Bloomberg – William Ackman’s hedge fund that invests in Target Corp. fell 68 percent last year, more than double the loss by the second-largest U.S. discount chain.

Pershing Square IV declined 7.7 percent in December alone, according to a letter to investors from Pershing Square Capital Management LP. Ackman and Pershing spent about $2 billion in 2007 for a stake in Minneapolis-based Target. Ackman has since pressed Target to buy back shares, sell its credit-card unit and extract more value from its real estate.

Ackman, who controls 9.5 percent of Target, proposed last year that the company place the land under Target stores into a real estate investment trust that would lease the property back to the retailer. The New York-based investor has argued that such a move would free up cash for the company and result in a higher valuation.

Pershing Square IV’s loss last year followed a decline of 43 percent in 2007. The fund is structured so its returns to investors double the stock’s movement.

Ackman didn’t return messages seeking comment.

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Reuters- Some of the world’s biggest property fund firms could eventually be tempted to trade property derivatives in a material way as long as the young market continues growing.

However, listed property firms such as real estate investment trust (REITs) could be a tougher nut to crack, leading industry figures at the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit said this week.

Matthias Danne, who sits on the board of DekaBank, Germany’s biggest operator of open-ended property funds, said he was interested in putting investor money to work quickly using property derivatives.

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