Universal Music Group (UMG) took another step toward listing its shares on a U.S. stock exchange by submitting a draft registration statement related to a public offering to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said in a press release on Monday (July 21).
UMG, which is traded on the Euronext exchange in Amsterdam, was pushed late last year to launch a dual listing in the United States by Pershing Square Holdings chief Bill Ackman, a former UMG board director whose hedge fund is among UMG’s largest shareholders. UMG has said it was working to “launch an underwritten offering for the sale of certain shares owned by Pershing by September 15, 2025.”
UMG, which submitted a filing called a Form F-1, said on Monday that it has not yet determined the number or price range for the ordinary shares to be offered, and that UMG will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares. The offering is subject to review by the SEC and market and other conditions, UMG said.
Ackman said last November that he would push UMG to list on a U.S. exchange by selling a portion of Pershing Square’s stake. His comments came after Israeli soccer fans were attacked in Amsterdam, which resulted in Ackman de-listing Pershing Square shares from the Amsterdam exchange and urging UMG to do the same.
In March, Bloomberg reported that Pershing planned on selling 50 million shares — approximately 2.7% of UMG’s outstanding shares — on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, at 26.60 euros ($28.97) to 27.90 euros ($30.28), which was expected to gross between $1.45 billion and $1.51 billion. In 2021, Pershing Square acquired its original 10% stake in UMG for $3.9 billion.
