After months of pursuit, Jacksonville-based Dream Finders Homes Inc. announced an agreement Aug. 7 to acquire Beazer Homes Inc. and form the nation’s sixth-largest homebuilder.
Dream Finders will pay $33.50 in cash for each share of Beazer common stock, a total of $915 million.
Including the assumption of debt, the deal is valued at $2.2 billion, the companies said.
The merged company will operate about 520 active communities in 26 markets across the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Texas, the West and the Midwest, they said.
“This combination is the next meaningful step in our journey to become a top 5 national homebuilder, expanding our geographic reach, broadening the range of buyers we can serve, and strengthening the integrated services we offer families from contract to close,” Dream Finders CEO Patrick Zalupski said in a news release.
Atlanta-based Beazer had rejected several offers from Dream Finders to buy the company, starting in February.
Dream Finders first disclosed its attempts to buy Beazer in May, announcing an offer of $25.75 a share. Beazer’s stock was trading at $18.77 at the time.
As Beazer continued to reject the offers, Dream Finders announced July 8 it had increased the offer to $32 a share. Dream Finders urged Beazer to negotiate a deal, but both sides announced disagreements on terms of the negotiations.
“This transaction represents the culmination of a comprehensive review of opportunities to maximize value and provides Beazer shareholders with a significant and certain cash return in an uncertain market,” Beazer CEO Allan Merrill said in the Aug. 7 news release.
Dream Finders said it will finance the purchase through a combination of existing capital resources and committed financing from several sources.