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Ackman says China may pursue bigger currency devaluation - FOX

William Ackman, founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, speaks during the Sohn Investment Conference in New York May 4, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - Billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman, whose investments include companies tied to China's growth, said the world's second-largest economy may be on the verge of a bigger currency devaluation and could face a major recession. "I think their recent small devaluation could be the beginning of a larger one," Ackman, who runs Pershing Square Capital Management, told Fox Business Network in an interview. "I think they could solve a lot of their problems by letting their currency depreciate. And I think ultimately that's where they're going to end up," the activist investor said, according to excerpts of the interview. Economists have said weaker trade data might prompt more easing after the country devalued the yuan on Aug. 11. The surprise move caused huge ructions in financial markets across the globe and spurred large losses across the hedge fund industry. Ackman's Pershing Square LP Fund took a 7.7 percent hit in the aftermath, but on Tuesday he told Fox he was still "bullish" on China over the long term. Ackman's biggest investments, including Valeant Pharmaceuticals and candymaker Mondelez, are based in North America but sell their goods in China. Speaking about chocolate and chewing gum, which Mondelez sells, Ackman said: "It's sort of the luxury, small ticket consumption, the kind of thing I think will do very well in China over the long period." (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Michael Flaherty; Editing by Ken Wills)