Aug 7 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Bill Ackman's

Pershing Square Capital Management, already the biggest owner of

Howard Hughes Holdings ( HHH ), is considering taking the $3.3

billion real estate developer private, according to a regulatory

filing.

Pershing Square, which has a 37.5% stake in the

company, is in talks with investment bank Jefferies to

evaluate acquiring the Howard Hughes shares it does not yet own,

Pershing Square's filing said.

Howard Hughes did not immediately respond to a Reuters

request for comment.

Shares of Texas-based Howard Hughes, one of Pershing

Square's longest-held investments, jumped 7.4% in late trading

to close at $66.31.

The plans were made public only days after Ackman stunned

Wall Street by abruptly cancelling an initial public offering

for a new investment fund that was expected to begin trading on

the New York Stock Exchange this week.

Ackman has been personally involved with Howard Hughes for a

decade and stepped off the company's board in April after having

served as its chairman since 2010.

In March, he was full of praise for Howard Hughes' CEO David

O'Reilly in a report to Pershing Square shareholders, writing

the executive "has not yet reached iconic status but is on his

way based on his progress to date." And in April, Ackman said

his firm intends to remain a major long-term shareholder.

But Howard Hughes' stock price, which is down 18.7% since

January and has lost nearly half of its value in the last five

years, has been a problem for Ackman for years. It contributed

only 1.4% to his fund's gross performance in 2023, coming in far

below other investments like Chipotle Mexican Grill ( CMG ) and

Universal Music Group.

Howard Hughes, spun off from real estate investment trust

General Growth Properties in 2010, owns and manages commercial,

residential and mixed-use real estate in the United States.