|
Home builders merge to make biggest UK group
George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow have confirmed a £5 billion merger that will create the UK’s biggest home building group.
The new company will be called Taylor Wimpey and will be large enough in terms of market value to merit a place on London's main FTSE 100 stock index.
The all-share deal is the biggest to date in Britain's fast-consolidating building sector and will allow them to boost their land banks - the current homes boom has been fuelled by a scarcity of sites, caused partly by lengthy and complex planning applications.
The merger will allow the companies to save £70 million a year but is also expected to result in 700 job losses.
The merger takes the UK's 'biggest' slot just a month on from Barratt Developments' £2.2 billion purchase of Wilson Bowden. Together, Woodrow and Wimpey will build around 22,000 homes in the UK each year, compared with around 20,000 for the combined Barratt and Wilson Bowden business.
A steady stream of mergers has seen 32 building companies being reduced to just 10 over the past decade.
The new company will be 51%-owned by Taylor Woodrow shareholders and 49%-owned by George Wimpey investors.
|