China’s Landsea Buying Texas Homebuilder Antares for $185M

A US residential developer controlled by China’s Landsea Group has agreed to buy a Texas homebuilder for a cash consideration of $185 million plus assumption of responsibility for $47.2 million in debt.

Landsea Homes is acquiring privately owned Antares Homes in a bid to expand its brand into the Dallas-Fort Worth area of northern Texas, according to a Thursday filing by Hong Kong-listed Landsea Green Management, which holds a majority stake in the American company.

Landsea Homes has sought opportunities to grow its presence in Texas since entering the state in 2021, CEO John Ho said in a release. The NASDAQ-listed developer — itself headquartered in Dallas — has built what it calls “high performance homes” embracing smart technology and sustainability features in eight US states including California, Florida and New York.

“Antares Homes shares our philosophy of building quality homes and providing exceptional customer service, making them the perfect addition to the Landsea Homes family,” Ho said.

Family Cashes Out

Owned by the local McAden family, Antares builds houses in its home base of Arlington and other suburban communities of Dallas-Fort Worth, the largest metropolitan area in Texas and fourth largest in the US.

Antares reported $169 million in net revenue for the 12 months to last September, delivering 415 homes with an average sale price of $407,000. The Landsea transaction, expected to close this quarter, will give the listed developer control of 2,298 lots to bring its total to more than 3,000 in Texas. Antares employees are expected to join Landsea’s team.

“Landsea Homes’ veteran homebuilding leadership team is guided by many of the same principles that we have used to build Antares Homes,” said president Tommy McAden. “The opportunity to introduce Landsea’s high performance homes concept to our region and become part of one of Texas’s up and coming homebuilders makes this the perfect fit for the Antares Homes team.”

For the nine months to last September, Landsea Homes reported sales revenue of $790.2 million, down 19 percent year-on-year, and deliveries of 1,459 units, down 12 percent. The declines were primarily the result of lower demand and affordability as mortgage interest rates rose significantly compared with the prior-year period, the builder said.

Crossing the Pacific

Landsea’s pending acquisition comes after Sekisui House last month announced plans to buy US builder MDC Holdings for $4.95 billion in a deal set to make the Japanese developer the fifth-largest homebuilder in the world’s biggest economy.

The transaction represents a windfall for some of the world’s largest asset managers, with BlackRock ranking second to MDC founder Larry Mizel’s 14.8 percent stake in the company with a 14.2 percent slice of the builder. Vanguard Group is the third-ranking shareholder with 9.3 percent.

The MDC buy continues Sekisui’s long-established overseas expansion, with the group having first entered the US homebuilding business in 2017 with its acquisition of Utah-based Woodside Homes. Last June the Japanese giant further expanded its holdings in the mountains of the western US with its acquisition of Idaho-based builder Hubble Homes.