2/22/17: The owners of Woodside Homes have agreed to sell the 40-year old entity, ranked 27 in the Builder 100, to Japan’s largest homebuilding enterprise Sekisui House in a deal with an estimated value in excess of $468 million.
The transaction–which transfers ownership of all shares of the company including equity interests of BUILDER parent-company Hanley Wood majority owners Oaktree AC (35.7%), Stonehill Institutional Partners (33.4%) and 12 other “owners” whose stakes total 30.9%–is set to close March 1.
The deal is one in an increasingly rapid-fire series of private home builder acquisitions by Japanese mega-corporations fueled by expansionist interests in the United States market, and more suppressed growth opportunity in Japan itself. Several other deals are said to be in the works as well, with both Japanese–Sumitomo, Daiwa House–and a number of China-based organizations seeking beachheads in the United States home building and residential development business.