Ackman raises exposure to Penney

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(Global Markets) - Billionaire investor William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management said it entered into a kind of swap that has increased its exposure to department store chain J.C. Penney Co Inc's stock. (JCP.N)

Pershing Square, Penney's largest shareholder with 18.3 percent of common stock, or 39 million shares, said in filing on Friday it entered into cash-settled total return swaps that give it economic exposure to another 16.6 million Penney shares.

All in all, Pershing Square's total exposure is now 55.6 million shares, or 26.1 percent of Penney's outstanding shares. That is the maximum number of shares Ackman's firm can own in Pershing, according to its agreement with Penney.

The swaps were entered into on Thursday.

Penney shares were up 0.5 percent to $25.50 in late trading.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; editing by Andre Grenon)