Ackman Doubles Down On Modern-Day Berkshire Hathaway Proposal With New Howard Hughes Offer

Billionaire Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management has tendered a new offer to Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., this time offering to acquire 48% of the company by buying 10 million newly issued shares for $90 each.

The proposal, which Ackman announced Tuesday afternoon after reiterating his desire to build a company modeled after Berkshire Hathaway, replaces an earlier merger offer made in January.

The new offer would increase Pershing Square’s ownership to 48%, up from 37.6%, which already makes it the company’s largest shareholder. 

Pershing Square on Jan. 13 proposed merging its newly formed subsidiary with Howard Hughes Holdings. At that time, it offered $85 per share for the 11.8 million shares that Pershing Square affiliates did not already own, or about $1B. 

Paying $90 each for 10 million shares would total $900M and represents a 46.4% premium to HHH’s stock price of $61.46 on Aug. 5, according to Pershing Square’s news release.

Howard Hughes stock surged upon Ackman’s teasing of Tuesday's announcement. 

“We are going to announce a potential transaction which, if completed, will provide me and my firm with the opportunity to create our own, you might say, modern-day version of Berkshire,” Ackman said in a post on X. “Fortunately, our starting base of assets won't be a dying textile company, but a very good business.”

Howard Hughes confirmed the unsolicited offer Tuesday night.

“To date, the Special Committee has not engaged in any negotiations with Pershing Square regarding any of its proposals, nor has it come to any determination regarding any of Pershing Square’s proposals,” the company said in a statement.

It said the new offer at a higher price came before the company had any “substantive discussions” with Pershing about its earlier bids.

Following the January offer, the company said it would “evaluate the proposal and determine the appropriate court of action and process.”

Howard Hughes responded similarly in August, when Ackman said he was considering taking Howard Hughes private. 

Ackman helped create Howard Hughes Corp. as a spin-off of shopping mall REIT General Growth Properties, which Ackman guided through bankruptcy. Ackman was Howard Hughes’ first chairman until he stepped down in April. 

The 48% proposal offer would make Ackman chairman and CEO of HHH, and the full Pershing Square team and resources would be made available to the company, the release states. Howard Hughes Corp., the principal subsidiary of HHH, would remain unchanged with the same direction, led by CEO David O’Reilly.

Howard Hughes is a massive-scale developer that operates in five states and is headquartered in one of its master-planned communities, The Woodlands, north of Houston. The company last year spun off its New York and Las Vegas assets into a new company called Seaport Entertainment Group. 

UPDATE, FEB. 19, 9:34 A.M. ET: A statement from Howard Hughes has been added.