Transactions
Aug. 6, 2002
Developer Makes Itself at Home in California Market
Miami-based home builder Lennar Corp. is making further forays into the California market. Lennar has acquired Pacific Century Homes of Temecula, gaining 7,000 home sites in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Financial terms of the deal, which closed July 11, were not disclosed.
Miami-based home builder Lennar Corp. is making further forays into the California market.
Lennar has acquired Pacific Century Homes of Temecula, gaining 7,000 home sites in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Financial terms of the deal, which closed July 11, were not disclosed.
Samuels & Steel of Irvine, along with Miami's Bilzin Sumberg Dunn Baena Price & Axelrod, represented Lennar.
Pacific Century is developing 1,700 homes for sale in the coming year, according to Rutan & Tucker of Costa Mesa, which represented Pacific Century in the deal.
Lennar has home-building operations in 16 states, including California. According to statistics cited by Rutan, Lennar is the largest home builder in California.
According to Lennar's annual report filed Feb. 28, the company posted record profits and revenues in 2001. It's net earnings were $418 million for the year, up from $229 million in 2000.
The lawyers handling the case called it a complex transaction.
"In some respects, it was like trying to take a snapshot of a fast-moving object," Randall Babbush, a Rutan partner who worked on the deal, says. "It's quite a challenge to get your arms around such a large transaction with so many moving pieces.
"Every time a house is sold to a home buyer, it's no longer included in what's being sold," Babbush notes.
Herbert Samuels of Samuels & Steel has a similar assessment.
"Property was being purchased, homes were being sold, and homes were being developed," Samuels says. "It's a going business, and it was complex and challenging."
Toni Vranjes
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