Howard Hughes Holdings stock up as it mulls buyout by billionaire Bill Ackman

By Steve Gelsi

Board of Texas real-estate company confirms offer from billionaire's Pershing Square hedge fund

Howard Hughes Holdings Inc.'s rose Thursday after it confirmed it received a buyout offer for the $3 billion real-estate company from billionaire Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP.

The Texas-based company (HHH), which takes its name from billionaire Howard Hughes, said Pershing Square has proposed taking the company private by buying the roughly 62.5% of its stock that it doesn't already own.

Howard Hughes Holdings did not mention any specific price that Pershing would pay.

Howard Hughes Holdings' stock was up 4.4% on Thursday morning.

The company's share price has fallen 15.1% in 2024, while the S&P 500 index is up by 10.4%.

Howard Hughes Holdings said it's forming a special committee to review "various potential alternatives" including remaining as a public company or going private.

For its part, Pershing Square said in a filing that it hired investment bank Jefferies to advise on the Howard Hughes Holdings deal.

The move comes a few days after Ackman scrapped an initial public offering of Pershing Square USA Ltd after reducing its projected dollar value to $2 billion from $25 billion.

Howard Hughes Holdings was the result of a spin-off in 2009 of bankrupt General Growth Properties, a shopping-mall developer.

In July, Howard Hughes Holdings also spun off its Las Vegas Aviators baseball franchise as well as South Street Seaport in New York City as a separate business called Seaport Entertainment Group Inc. (SEG).

Ackman retired earlier this year as chairman of Howard Hughes Holdings. He had held the position since the founding of the company in 2010.

Scott Sellers, a long-time board member and former chief executive of Archstone Inc. real estate company, is now chairman of Howard Hughes Holdings.

-Steve Gelsi

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08-08-24 1024ET

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