Legal & General has taken full ownership of UK housebuilder CALA Homes, acquiring the 52.1% of the company it did not already own.
Legal & General Capital, which invests the insurer’s balance sheet capital, had jointly owned the company alongside real estate fund manager Patron Capital Partners.
Both took 46.5% stakes in 2013 with CALA management retaining a 7% interest.
The remaining 52.1% stake was acquired by Legal & General for £315m (€355m), plus additional costs and financial adjustments. The deal values the full equity in CALA Homes at £605m.
Legal & General said the business has performed strongly since then and has attractive growth prospects. Revenues grew threefold from £241m in 2013 to £748m in 2017, and profits growing at a compound annual growth rate of 12% over the past three years.
Kerrigan Procter, CEO of Legal & General Capital, said CALA Homes “has a strong management team with proven experience of managing a housebuilding business across business cycles, and has delivered great returns for shareholders since its acquisition in 2013, having tripled in revenue during this time”.
He added: “Legal & General has valued the contributions of Patron over the past years and is pleased to have successfully grown the business together.”
Keith Breslauer, managing director of Patron Capital, said: “With the combined resources of Patron and Legal & General, we have worked successfully with the management team to support the growth of the business and consolidate CALA Homes’ position in the market.
“Over the last five years, CALA Homes has expanded significantly, growing twofold the annual volume of homes sold and fourfold the operating profits, delivering on the business plan set out at the time of Patron and Legal & General’s acquisition.”
Breslauer said Patron remained committed to the UK residential sector with “extensive investment activities in this area”.
Alan Brown, CEO of CALA Homes, said: “Over the past five years we have become one of the UK’s fastest growing housebuilders and this is testament to the strength and ambition of our team, the quality of our homes and our approach to customer service.”
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