Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management unveiled a non-binding proposal to the board of directors of music giant Universal Music Group (UMG), the musical home of such stars as Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar, to acquire all of its outstanding shares in a mega-transaction valued at around $63.5 billion, “together with a value creation plan designed to deliver significant benefits to UMG stakeholders.” Pershing, which has owned a stake in the music major since 2021, said its offer values each share of UMG at €30.40, putting the total value of UMG under the overall deal at about €55 billion, or $63.5 billion. “Since UMG’s [stock market] listing, [UMG chairman and CEO] Sir Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” said Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman. “However, UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this …