Japanese homebuilder acquires Salt Lake-based Woodside Homes
A Japanese homebuilding giant has acquired a southwest U.S. builder with operations in Las Vegas.
Sekisui House Ltd. said Wednesday that it agreed to buy Salt Lake City-based Woodside Homes. It put the “acquisition value” at $468 million and said the purchase was to close at the end of February.
Woodside sells houses in Utah, Arizona, California, Texas and Nevada. It operates around the Las Vegas Valley, including in Henderson’s Cadence community; northwest Las Vegas’ Skye Canyon community; and Southern Highlands, at the valley’s southern edge, near the M Resort.
Overall, it closed 311 new-home sales in Clark County last year, 10th highest locally, according to Home Builders Research.
Osaka-based Sekisui was founded in Japan in 1960 and says it has built more than 2 million homes. It operates in its home country as well as China, Singapore, Australia and the United States.
Founded in 1977, Woodside was pushed into bankruptcy in 2008 by creditors claiming they were owed $730 million, reports said. Investment firms Oaktree Capital Management and Stonehill Institutional Partners later acquired majority ownership.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Woodside CEO Joel Shine said the sale would have “absolutely no effect” on its Las Vegas operations in the short-term.
But in the long run, he said, being owned by Sekisui will “create some very serious competitive advantages.”
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
