Ackman sells Target shares two years after rejection

(Bloomberg) — William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP sold all its shares in Target Corp., two years after the discounter's shareholders rejected a board slate nominated by the hedge-fund manager.

Pershing sold 7.4 million shares, reducing its position to zero, as of March 31, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today. Minneapolis-based Target has 689.1 million shares outstanding.

Ackman, 45, nominated himself and four other candidates to the Target board in March 2009, saying the directors lacked expertise in credit cards, real estate and groceries, and failed to position the company for the recession. Ackman at one point controlled 9.5 percent of Target, the second-biggest U.S. discount retailer after Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Target shares have advanced 16 percent this year as of Monday.

In 2009, Ackman apologized to clients who had money in New York-based Pershing Square after it lost $1.8 billion on its Target investment.

That year, Target and Ackman traded barbs and criticisms almost daily in a flurry of press releases and securities filings. The company said Ackman ran for a board seat to promote a plan to form a real estate investment trust backed by the land under its stores, a proposal it had rejected earlier.