Kennedy Wilson to Go Private in $1.7B Deal
The firm has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2009.
A consortium led by Kennedy Wilson Holdings Chairman & CEO William McMorrow has entered the company into a $1.65 billion all-cash acquisition and privatization agreement. The group is being formed alongside senior executives at the company, in partnership with Fairfax Financial Holdings, a Toronto-based financial services company.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026.
Following this transaction, Fairfax will control a majority interest in the company while KW Management Group, Kennedy Wilson’s leadership, will continue to lead operations.
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The deal follows Kennedy Wilson’s expansion across the multifamily investment space. This past September, the company acquired Toll Brothers’ Apartment Living platform for $347 million. In April, it formed a $200 million partnership with Tokyu Land US Corp, to launch a preferred equity and mezzanine real estate investment platform. The platform has a focus on strong economic markets, with Kennedy Wilson approving each investment and a 10 percent stake in the venture.
On-and-off privatization
After being founded in 1977, Kennedy Wilson remained private until an initial public offering in 1993 on the Nasdaq. In 2004, the company filed a Form 15 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which transitioned it back to a private company. Five years later, the firm merged with Prospect Acquisition Corp., raising $110 million in new equity to become public again. It was then listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Since going public for a second time, the company has closed more than $60 billion in transactions, and has $31 billion assets under management across the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland. It owns more than 41,000 multifamily units.
Kennedy Wilson’s board of directors approved the deal after a unanimous recommendation from a special committee of independent directors. Once the transaction is finalized, Kennedy Wilson’s common shares will be removed from the New York Stock Exchange.
Moelis & Company is serving as financial advisor on the deal, and law firms Latham & Watkins and Ropes & Gray are acting as Kennedy Wilson’s legal counsel.
A longstanding partnership
Fairfax Financial and Kennedy Wilson have a partnership history going back over 15 years. Fairfax first made a $100 million equity investment in Kennedy Wilson in 2010, and the firms have since have collaborated on more than $8 billion in aggregate acquisitions.
In May 2020, Fairfax and Kennedy Wilson formed a $2 billion debt platform for first mortgage loans for high-quality assets across the Western U.S, Ireland and the U.K. At the time, Fairfax had a 9 percent equity stake in the company. Two years later, Fairfax increased its mortgage target for the platform to $5 billion.
In 2023, the two companies closed on the first loans needed for part of a $5.7 billion portfolio acquisition from Pacific Western Bank. The first set of loans totaled $1.6 billion, and constituted Kennedy Wilson’s entrance into multiple southern and eastern U.S. markets.
