The first public draft of the Seaport Form 10-12 came out on Friday, I took a quick read of it, here are some initial thoughts that I'll likely come back to as the spinoff approaches sometime in Q3. Howard Hughes Holdings (HHH) is going to be spinning four main assets into the newly created Seaport Entertainment (SEG) that will focus on "intersection of entertainment and real estate":
- The Seaport District in Lower Manhattan, which includes the South Street Seaport itself, some neighboring buildings and the 250 Water St development site (which HHH/SEG recently won a lawsuit that sets the stage for construction), all of which Howard Hughes has sunk over $1B into over the last decade and is still bleeding cash (-$55MM in 2023). Thus far, the Seaport has been a disaster (HHH took a $672.5MM impairment on the Seaport last year) and waste of capital, the project was started a year or two after Super Storm Sandy destroyed much of the old structure in 2012 and was underwritten at a 4-6% return on cost. The development had many delays and hasn't come close to the original profitability projections a decade or so later, as a long term HHH shareholder, I blame the Seaport for much of the underperformance over the last 5-7 years (alongside the Ackman covid capital raise). Maybe focused management can turn this around? There are a total of 11 physical buildings at the Seaport, as a whole it is about 2/3rd's leased at this point.
- 25% interest in Jean-Georges Restaurants that was acquired for $45MM (potentially an Ackman vanity investment) with the stated strategy to partner with Jean-George in the future as an anchor tenant in new developments (Jean-Georges leases the entire Tin Building in a JV with SEG for a food hall concept). This investment reminds me of MSGE/Sphere's investment in TAO Group where they argued TAO's nightclub expertise could be used at the Sphere and other entertainment venues, TAO was eventually divested. The Jean-Georges investment feels very non-core and could be sold to raise capital for their two big development projects (250 Water St and Fashion Show Air Rights).
- The Las Vegas Aviators (highest revenue grossing minor league team), the Oakland A's AAA affiliate, and the corresponding newish Las Vegas Ballpark located in Howard Hughes' Summerlin master planned community. The A's are moving to the Las Vegas strip (where the old Tropicana was located) in a couple years, the current plan is to keep the Aviators in Summerlin, but TBD on how that impacts attendance/revenue. HHH did pay $16.4MM for the remaining 50% of the Aviators they didn't own in 2017 and the ballpark cost approximately $125MM in 2019.
- 80% interest in the air rights above the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas strip, which is located on the north end of the strip near Treasure Island and the Wynn hotels. Howard Hughes has brought in Anton Nikodemus as the CEO of Seaport, his previous stop was as the President/COO of MGM's City Center in Las Vegas and before that he led the development of MGM's National Harbor and Springfield, MA casinos. I go annually to a conference in the City Center and have visited the National Harbor property, both are impressive gaming resorts that are well run. The Fashion Show Mall and the other 20% of the air rights are owned/operated by Brookfield Properties (which acquired General Growth Properties (GGP), the original parent of Howard Hughes). There's been a significant increase in supply on the north end of the Las Vegas strip in the past year with the opening of Resorts World and the Fontainebleau (both of which post-opening are relative ghost towns). But with Nikodemus onboard, it clearly signals that they intend to redevelop the Fashion Show Mall in the medium-to-long term.
Each of these are a bit difficult to value and don't quite fit into a typical public real estate company (although HHH/HHC will still be a bit of an odd ball public stock following the spin, it helps on the margins). My question prior to the Form 10-12 release was how this company would be capitalized given it loses money and likely will for the near future, plus the plan is clearly to sink money into their development assets, that question was answered with disclosure that Seaport intends to conduct a $175MM rights offering with Ackman's Pershing Square backing it up plus cash from HHC, giving SEG roughly ~$200MM in cash at closing:
Seaport Entertainment expects to conduct a $175 million Rights Offering of equity to our stockholders following the distribution. In connection with the Rights Offering, the Company is in serious discussions with Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. (“Pershing Square”), which through investment funds advised by it is HHH’s largest shareholder, regarding a potential backstop agreement which would be entered into prior to the distribution. Pursuant to that agreement, if finalized, Pershing Square would agree to (i) exercise its pro rata subscription right with respect to the Rights Offering at a price of $100 per share of our common stock and (ii) purchase any shares not purchased upon the expiration of the Rights Offering at the Rights Offering price, up to $175 million in the aggregate. The backstop agreement could result in Pershing Square’s affiliated funds owning as much as % of our common stock if no other stockholders participate in the Rights Offering. Any capital raised through the Rights Offering would further strengthen our balance sheet. With over $ million of liquidity, primarily consisting of (i) $23.4 million of cash contributed by HHH pursuant to the Separation Agreement, (ii) expected proceeds from the anticipated Rights Offering and (iii) amounts available under the Revolving Credit Agreement (as defined herein), we believe we will have ample capital to invest in and drive internal and external growth opportunities in the leisure, tourism, hospitality, gaming, food and beverage and live entertainment spaces.
Rights offerings can often be juicy special situations (is this a Greenblatt special, spin + rights offering?), they come around rarely, but often signal an opportunity because the company is offering all shareholders the opportunity re-up often at a discount.
Ackman clearly wants more exposure to SEG, by backstopping the rights offering where it'll likely not be fully subscribed, he's increasing his exposure in more shareholder friendly way than he did with Howard Hughes during covid with a private placement that minority shareholders couldn't participate. His interest in Seaport Entertainment is a bit puzzling to me, Ackman tends to like higher quality companies, something SEG is not. New York real estate plays have always been challenging to me, especially ones that rely on development, 250 Water St will take several years to build (with original cost estimates of $850MM in 2021, likely higher now) and who knows what the apartment and office leasing environment will be at that point. Add that with the underwritten low cap rates, the margin of safety in NY development seems extra slim. It is also worth noting that Ackman has left the board of HHH, this is after he was famously on the cover of Forbes as Baby Buffett for his role in Howard Hughes. I've seen some speculation that it clears the path for Ackman to make a bid for HHH, unlikely, but who knows.
The Seaport spin is going to be a challenge to value, can't really do a cap rate based SOTP. HHH trades for 1.1x book value at this point (despite holding a lot of land/buildings at historical cost), HHH is the higher quality asset, guessing Seaport will trade at a discount to book.
We don't know the spin ratio yet, but at 80% of book, Seaport is roughly worth ~$6-7 per HHH share prior to the rights offering, or about 10% of the HHH market cap. That likely means we see forced selling, could be an interesting one to keep on the watchlist.
Disclosure: I own shares of HHH (fka HHC)
Sort of seems like a play for Pershing to increase its assets on paper in order to become the operating company (listed on NYSE not otc) ackman wants it to be, regardless of the long term outcome for SEG
ReplyDeleteHadn't occurred to me, but good thought. I haven't spent any significant time researching the investment company act rules as it applies to Ackman, but I would think SEG is too small for him to merge PSH into?
DeleteYeah, I think you're right- it would be a small drop in the bucket.
DeleteAs a long time HHH shareholder living in NYC, the Seaport always seemed like a fiasco to me, from the very beginning, but I kept the faith which was clearly a mistake. As a result, HHH is the one PSH holding that always underperforms. Hoping that once the spin off is complete HHH will finally increase in value and earn its place in the PSH portfolio. Talk about patience being tested....
DeleteGreat summary, just keeping track of comments here.
ReplyDeleteMDC, thanks for the write up. Forgive my ignorance, the value here would be potentially getting SEG at a discount by holding HHH prior to spin off or buying SEG if/when there's forced selling?
ReplyDeleteIf you like the SEG story, I would wait for the spin and/or rights offering. I'm guessing the rights will trade, those can often be mispriced. It's just too small to buy HHH ahead of it if you're interested in SEG.
DeleteSell off drove it below the rights issue $25 price, but back up again now. How did you feel about the valuation MDC?
ReplyDeleteIt feels a bit cheap on an asset basis compared to book value (which was recently impaired, so should be a semi decent bogey). I'm going to participate in the rights offering, otherwise you get diluted, but a low conviction holding. More interested to see what Ackman does with HHH, still an odd situation overall to spin this tiny asset, then attempt to take the RemainCo private leaving this stub public.
DeleteSimilar views - looks really cheap to asset replacement cost/similar txn values/discounted in ground cost, but I just worry it does not generate operating cash. Strange collection of assets.
Deletedecent summary here. Maybe a bit optimistic : https://x.com/marginofdanger/status/1826004559078281680
ReplyDeleteProbably a lot optimistic. I'm not confident the public markets will give SEG a full value any time soon. This is the side of the split that shouldn't be public.
DeleteSounds like the upside is up in the air, but you're confident about $25 acting as a floor? Also, how will the rights offering work - do currently shareholders receive rights or will the issue date be announced and they "IPO?"
DeleteLastly - will SEG list options?
$25 is a temporary floor until the rights offering happens.
DeleteCurrent shareholders will receive the rights, then you need to contact your broker to exercise them and likely select whether you want to oversubscribe.
I'm not sure about options, it's not SEG's choice, but I'm guessing they'll be listed after the rights offering when there's more shares trading / larger market cap.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2009684/000162828024041126/exhibit991-launch8xk.htm
ReplyDeleteRights offering commenced today. Rights will be tradeable starting tomorrow and will expire 10/10. I'll be subscribing/over-subscribing.