Hedge-fund manager William Ackman has been pressing Target (TGT) for months to spin off its real estate into a separate company.

Unsuccessful in his attempts to sell management on the idea, Ackman is now looking for a little real estate on Target's board of directors.

Ackman's hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, is negotiating to get its nominees on the board, Reuters reports.

In an S.E.C. filing, Pershing also disclosed that it now owns a 7.8 percent stake in Target, down from 9.7 percent last year.

Ackman has argued that creating a separate Target real-estate company, which would lease land back to the retailer, would create value for shareholders. Critics, however, have panned the proposal as a scheme to transfer wealth from future to current stockholders.