Ackman's Pershing Square considers offer for remainder of property developer Howard Hughes

Pershing Square Holdings

07/08/2024 22:34

Aug 7 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Bill Ackman's
Pershing Square Capital Management, already the biggest owner of
Howard Hughes Holdings  HHH.N , is considering taking the $3.3
billion real estate developer private, according to a regulatory
filing.
    Pershing Square  PSH.AS , which has a 37.5% stake in the
company, is in talks with investment bank Jefferies  JEF.N  to
evaluate acquiring the Howard Hughes shares it does not yet own,
Pershing Square's filing said. 
    Howard Hughes did not immediately respond to a Reuters
request for comment.
    Shares of Texas-based Howard Hughes, one of Pershing
Square's longest-held investments, jumped 7.4% in late trading
to close at $66.31. 
    The plans were made public only days after Ackman stunned
Wall Street by abruptly cancelling an initial public offering
for a new investment fund that was expected to begin trading on
the New York Stock Exchange this week. 
    Ackman has been personally involved with Howard Hughes for a
decade and stepped off the company's board in April after having
served as its chairman since 2010.
    In March, he was full of praise for Howard Hughes' CEO David
O'Reilly in a report to Pershing Square shareholders, writing
the executive "has not yet reached iconic status but is on his
way based on his progress to date." And in April, Ackman said
his firm intends to remain a major long-term shareholder.
    But Howard Hughes' stock price, which is down 18.7% since
January and has lost nearly half of its value in the last five
years, has been a problem for Ackman for years. It contributed
only 1.4% to his fund's gross performance in 2023, coming in far
below other investments like Chipotle Mexican Grill  CMG.N  and
Universal Music Group  UMG.AS . 
    Howard Hughes, spun off from real estate investment trust
General Growth Properties in 2010, owns and manages commercial,
residential and mixed-use real estate in the United States. 

 (Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru and Svea
Herbst-Bayliss in Boston; Editing by Jamie Freed)
 ((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))