Bill Ackman is trying to turn a real estate developer into an insurance-fueled mini–Berkshire Hathaway — and he just made his biggest move yet.
Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., the company best known for sprawling master planned communities, has agreed to buy Bermuda-based specialty insurer Vantage Group Holdings for $2.1 billion in cash and stock, a deal Ackman has been pushing as the anchor for a new diversified holding-company strategy.
In a statement, Ackman credited former Berkshire boss Warren Buffett for creating the blueprint.
“Learning from Mr. Buffett, we’ve taken a similar approach and began a search either for a management team to build a business around, or for an existing company we could acquire at a price that made sense and use as the core of this platform,” Ackman said.
The deal pegs Vantage at roughly 1.5 times its estimated year-end 2025 book value, with closing targeted for the second quarter of 2026, pending the usual regulatory sign-offs.
Howard Hughes said it’ll write the $2.1 billion check using a combination of cash on hand and up to $1 billion from Pershing Square through newly issued preferred stock.
Howard Hughes is borrowing money from Ackman’s firm, but on very friendly terms. The preferred shares are non-interest bearing and non-voting — meaning that the company doesn’t have to pay Ackman regular interest and will not cede any voting power to the hedge fund mogul.
Investors were bullish about the news as Howard Hughes shares were rose 3% after the announcement.
Ackman, 59, launched Pershing Square Capital Management in 2004 and made his name with big, concentrated positions and activist fights in the public markets.
Howard Hughes — a 2010 spinoff tied to General Growth Properties’ bankruptcy — made its money by owning huge pieces of land, selling plots to homebuilders and developing large, planned communities with houses, offices, shops and amenities.
Its crown jewels include The Woodlands and Bridgeland outside Houston and Summerlin in Nevada.
Ackman chaired the company from 2010 to 2024, then came back as executive chairman in May 2025 after Pershing Square boosted its stake to about 47%.
The Vantage buy is meant to speed up a pivot already in motion.
Howard Hughes completed the spinoff of Seaport Entertainment Group last year, and Ackman has been pushing the company toward a structure built to compound capital beyond real estate.
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