Vantage to be acquired by Howard Hughes Holdings. Pershing Square to manage assets

Vantage Group Holdings Ltd., the specialty insurance and reinsurance group with a collateralized underwriting arm under the AdVantage strategy, has announced it is to be acquired by the Bill Ackman linked Howard Hughes Holdings, while his hedge fund Pershing Square will manage Vantage’s investment assets going forwards.

Howard Hughes Holdings will acquire 100% of Vantage for $2.1 billion in cash, which is equivalent to approximately 1.5x year-end 2025 book value.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026 and the firm’s hailed this as a transaction that propels Howard Hughes’ transformation into a diversified holding company.

It’s a further clear signal of the attractiveness of the specialty insurance and reinsurance sector to long-term oriented investors, while also underscoring asset managers’ attraction to the investment assets and premium float the sector’s underwriting can generate.

“I’m excited about starting Vantage’s next chapter through this acquisition,” commented Greg Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer of Vantage. “With Howard Hughes’ permanent capital and long-term vision, we expect to strengthen our balance sheet and expand opportunities in specialty insurance, reinsurance, and partnership capital. After closing, we anticipate enhanced resources to fuel profitable growth, drive innovation, and deliver even greater value to brokers and clients over time. None of this would be possible without the amazing passion and energy of 360 colleagues, the unwavering support of Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman, and the incredible support of our brokers and clients.”

“The acquisition of Vantage is a milestone event in the transformation of Howard Hughes into a diversified holding company,” Bill Ackman, Executive Chairman of Howard Hughes said. “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.”

The Vantage business will continue to operate under the same brand, with no change to team or its go-to-market strategy.

This year, Vantage said that it deployed $1.5 billion of third-party investor capital for the 2025 underwriting year through its Partnership Capital platform and collateralized underwriting operations.

The ownership by Howard Hughes Holdings “provides long-term capital support which materially strengthens Vantage’s credit profile and underwriting flexibility,” the companies explained.

“An emphasis on underwriting profitability—driven by disciplined risk selection, pricing, and portfolio optimization rather than growth—will allow Vantage to effectively navigate the insurance cycle and optimize asset allocation over time,” Vantage further stated.

Pershing Square is set to manage Vantage’s assets on a fee-free basis, which the companies believe will enhance investment returns and also further alignment with policyholders and shareholders.

Howard Hughes Holdings said that by adding a higher-return, fast-growing insurance operation the entity accelerates its growth profile, while diversifying its holdings and sources of long-term value.

With Howard Hughes Holdings set to acquire 100% of Vantage, its long-term backers Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman will secure an exit from the position.

Jim Burr, Co-Head of Global Financial Services at Carlyle, and Jitij Dwivedi, Partner in the Financial Services team at Carlyle, commented, “We are proud to have partnered with Greg Hendrick and the entire Vantage management team over the past five years and support the launch and build-out of the business. Together, we have built a top tier specialty insurance and re-insurance business, differentiated by its culture and tech-enabled underwriting platform, delivered strong earnings growth and diversified Vantage’s business model through innovative insurance-linked strategies. We think Howard Hughes will be a great home and wish Greg and the Vantage team continued success as it enters its next phase of growth.”

“We are so proud of what Greg and the team have built since we launched together in 2020. Today, Vantage is a high-quality insurance and reinsurance franchise with an excellent team and deep underwriting capabilities. We look forward to watching its continued growth and success in its next chapter,” added Adam Halpern-Leistner, Partner at Hellman & Friedman, and Hunter Philbrick, Partner at Hellman & Friedman.

Update: Bill Ackman and Ryan Israel of Howard Hughes Holdings both discussed the AdVantage business during analyst calls later in the day, making very positive comments about the third-party reinsurance capital management unit and the potential to expand it.