$$ Ackman to Chair Spinco…..

Think of this as being an investor in an Ackman REIT hedge fund…

Slick little name also…

Crain’s NY

Hedge fund manager William Ackman, who made a $1.5 billion profit on his investment in General Growth Properties, is slated to become chairman of a company that will be spun off from the shopping mall operator when it emerges from bankruptcy next month.

Called the Howard Hughes Co., it will contain shopping centers that need to be redeveloped, including the South Street Seaport and 7,000 acres of land in Nevada that the new company’s namesake once owned. General Growth owns the rights to the Howard Hughes Co. name and its assets through its acquisition of Rouse Co.

“Howard Hughes was a great entrepreneur, a little eccentric but very successful,” said Mr. Ackman, the billionaire who runs Pershing Square Capital Management. “It’s a good name.”

Mr. Ackman began buying shares and debt in General Growth and used his 25% stake to win a seat on the board, help guide the firm through bankruptcy and develop a reorganization plan. Splitting the company and putting the more challenging assets into one firm was part of that plan. Mr. Ackman will own 30% of Howard Hughes.

Jim Sullivan, a managing director at Green Street Advisors Inc., applauded the idea of the division, saying it made sense to isolate the riskier assets so they won’t affect the performance of the more stable properties. However, whether Mr. Ackman and his team can mine the other properties for a profit remains to be seen.

“I think it could take five to 10 years for that to happen,” he said.

Mr. Ackman says he is currently looking for a management team and that he does not yet have definite plans for the properties.