Howard Hughes Shifts Gears, Buys Vantage In $2.1 Billion Insurance Move

Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HHH) stock rose Thursday after the company disclosed that it reached a definitive deal to fully acquire Vantage Group Holdings Ltd. for $2.1 billion in cash.

Founded in 2020, Vantage is a privately held, leading specialty insurance and reinsurance company, backed by investment firms The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) and Hellman & Friedman.

The buyout will serve as the cornerstone of Howard Hughes’ transformation into a diversified holding company.

Monetary Details

The acquisition price represents approximately 1.5 times Vantage’s year-end 2025 book value and an implied multiple of roughly 1.4 times price-to-book value. 

The company expects to fund the acquisition using cash on hand of around $1.5 billion (as of September 30, 2025) and up to $1 billion of non-interest-bearing, non-voting preferred stock issued to Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (PSH).

The PSH Preferred will be divided into 14 equal tranches, which HHH can repurchase annually for the first seven years after closing.

Each tranche’s repurchase price will be the greater of: the original issue price plus 4% per year, or 1.5 times Vantage’s book value (proportional to the PSH Preferred ownership), with book value calculated per GAAP at the end of the fiscal year or quarter preceding the repurchase.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Management Commentary

Bill Ackman, Executive Chairman of Howard Hughes, stated, “In Vantage, HHH obtains an exceptional diversified specialty insurance and reinsurance platform managed by an excellent and highly experienced team. The combination of Vantage’s insurance expertise and Pershing Square’s investment capabilities creates the opportunity to build a large, highly profitable insurance company and an important source of long-term value creation for Howard Hughes.”

“If we achieve our objectives in running a profitable insurance operation and managing Vantage’s assets to generate highly attractive long-term rates of return, we believe that Vantage will generate high returns on equity for decades to come,” added Ryan Israel, Chief Investment Officer of Howard Hughes Holdings.

“We have structured the deal to enable Howard Hughes to acquire 100% legal ownership of Vantage today, and over time to increase its economic ownership to 100% in what we expect to be a highly accretive manner.”

HHH Price Action: Howard Hughes Holdings shares were up 2.27% at $84.85 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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