The fund boosts the firepower of billionaire Ackman, famed for aggressive moves such as a $1 billion bet against U.S. nutrition firm Herbalife and a battle to broker a sale of Botox maker Allergan (>> Allergan, Inc.) to Valeant Pharmaceuticals (>> Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc).

The fund raised $2.73 billion through an initial public offering and said the exercise of an over-allotment option would see the value of the placing rise to more than $3 billion.

The fund was priced at $25 a share, giving it a market capitalisation of $6.2 billion, the company said in a statement.

Pershing Square Holdings' shares will start trading on Euronext Amsterdam on Oct. 13.

The fund is run by Pershing Square Capital Management, a North America-focused equities investment manager founded by Ackman in 2003 which had $14.1 billion in assets under management at the end of June.

(Reporting by Francesco Canepa and Nishant Kumar; editing by David Clarke)

Stocks treated in this article : Allergan, Inc., Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc