New York New York USA - The American activist investor who forced Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) to bring E. Hunter Harrison out of retirement to act as CEO in 2012 is selling stock worth $1.9 billion.
 
Pershing Square Capital Management L.P., the hedge fund controlled by Bill Ackman and Calgary-based CP announced jointly after markets closed Wednesday that the fund will sell its entire 9.8 million shares, about 6.4 percent of the company's equity, through a public offering.
 
The stake is worth $1.9 billion at the railway's closing price of $192.49 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
 
When Pershing first confirmed it had bought a 12.2 percent stake in the railway in October 2011, the stock was trading for about $69.
 
According to a CP regulatory filing earlier this year, Ackman held 13.9 million shares indirectly through Pershing as of 29 Feb 2016.
 
Pershing reportedly sold a large block of its shares in April.
 
Ackman has been a director at the railway since May 2012 and backed its US$30 billion bid to buy American-based Norfolk Southern (NS) railroad that failed earlier this year.
 
Last month, CP confirmed that president Keith Creel will succeed 71-year-old Harrison as CEO when he retires next summer.
 
J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are to act as underwriters for the Pershing offering, the companies said.
 
None of the shares are being sold by CP and it will not receive any of the proceeds, they said.
 
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