Ackman's Pershing Square off 12.6 pct for year after Valeant tumble

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
BOSTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Billionaire hedge fund manager
William Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings fund is nursing a 12.6
percent loss for 2015, an investor who received Ackman's letter
on Thursday said, marking a dramatic reversal of fortune for one
of last year's best performing managers.
Pershing Square tumbled 12.5 percent last month, the
investor told Reuters, when one of its biggest holdings, Valeant
Pharmaceuticals VRX.TO , was battered by fears that U.S.
lawmakers are planning to review price increases of the
company's products. Valeant makes up roughly a fifth of Pershing
Square's portfolio.
Only four weeks earlier Ackman reported that the firm's
first half gain of roughly 10 percent had been largely wiped out
during August's market sell-off.
The fund's losses in August and September have shrunk the
size of Ackman's portfolio from roughly $20 billion earlier in
the year to about $16.5 billion now, the person said.
September's battering put Ackman in line with a string of
prominent rival managers, including David Einhorn, Daniel Loeb
and Barry Rosenstein, who suffered losses last month that put
them firmly into the red for the year.
It also marks a sharp reversal of fortune for Ackman from
last year when Pershing Square was one of the industry's best
performers with a 40 percent gain.
Hedge fund managers generally do not comment on their
performance as their funds are private.
Valeant, of which Pershing Square bought 19.5 million shares
earlier this year, was off as much as 30 percent in September
before ending the month with a 22 percent drop.
Ackman, one of the industry's most closely followed activist
investors, mostly bets that stocks will climb, making his
portfolio particularly vulnerable to sharp market declines.
He likely made some money on his short bet against Herbalife (NYSE:HLF)
HLF.N , but it was far from enough to offset other losses.