Home builder Pulte Homes Inc. will buy rival Centex Corp. in a $1.3 billion deal.
The deal is made up of a stock-for-stock swap valued at $3.1 billion, including $1.8 billion of net debt.
Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte (NYSE: PHM) is metro Atlanta's second-largest home builder, with Dallas-based Centex (NYSE: CTX) ranked at No. 14, according to Atlanta Business Chronicle's 2008-2009 Book of Lists.
Pulte had two of the top-selling communities in 2008 in metro Atlanta -- Village at Deaton Creek and Sun City Peachtree.
"Combining these two industry leaders with proud legacies into one company puts us in an excellent position to navigate through the current housing downturn, poised to accelerate our return to profitability," said Richard J. Dugas Jr., Pulte president and CEO, in a statement. "Centex's significant presence in the entry level and move-up categories is complemented by Pulte's strength in both the move-up and active adult segments, the latter through our popular Del Webb brand."
The combined company will use the Pulte name and be based in Bloomfield Hills, but the firms said a “significant presence” will be maintained in Dallas. Dugas will assume the positions of chairman, president and CEO of the combined company. Current Centex CEO Timothy Eller will join an expanded Pulte board.
This buyout would make the "new" Pulte, the largest builder in the Atlanta area, but that's not saying alot since Centex stopped building spec homes last year.
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