Beazer Homes and GSO Capital Partners Announce $150 Million Land Banking Arrangement
Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYSE:BZH) and GSO Capital
Partners LP ("GSO"), the credit arm of The Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX),
announced today that GSO will make available up to $150 million as part
of a land banking arrangement. Funds managed by GSO will acquire new
land parcels identified by Beazer Homes and option finished lots on a
pre-determined takedown schedule to the Company.
“I’m very pleased that GSO has agreed to make available to the Company
additional capital to enhance our land acquisition and development
activities,” said Allan Merrill, CEO of Beazer Homes. “Expanding our
active community count beginning in fiscal 2014 is a key part of our
path-to-profitability plan and will enable us to more fully participate
in the strengthening housing market.”
Doug Ostrover, Senior Managing Director of Blackstone and Co-Founder of
GSO, said, "As the housing recovery continues to gain momentum, we are
excited to partner with Beazer and extend our land banking business. GSO
has a long history of working with Beazer, and we have great confidence
that the management team is positioning the company well in order to
capitalize on the recovery and regain profitability. We look at this
incremental capital as just the first step in what we hope to be many
successful future ventures with Beazer.”
ABOUT BEAZER HOMES:
Headquartered in Atlanta, Beazer Homes is one of the country’s 10
largest single-family homebuilders. The Company’s homes meet or exceed
the benchmark for energy-efficient home construction as established by
ENERGY STAR® and are designed with flexible floorplan options to meet
the personal preferences and lifestyles of its buyers. In
addition, the Company is committed to providing a range of preferred
lender choices to facilitate transparent competition between lenders and
enhanced customer service. The Company offers homes in 16 states,
including Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana,
Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Beazer Homes is
listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “BZH.” For
more info visit Beazer.com,
or check out Beazer on Facebook
and Twitter.
ABOUT GSO CAPITAL PARTNERS LP:
GSO Capital Partners LP is the global credit platform of The
Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX). GSO, together with its affiliates, has
approximately $55 billion of assets currently under management and is
one of the largest credit-oriented alternative managers in the world and
a major participant in the leveraged finance marketplace. GSO seeks to
generate superior risk-adjusted returns in its credit business by
investing in a broad array of strategies including mezzanine, distressed
investing leveraged loans and other special situation strategies.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements represent our expectations or beliefs
concerning future events, and it is possible that the results described
in this press release will not be achieved. These forward-looking
statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many
of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to
differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking
statements, including, among other things, (i) economic changes
nationally or in local markets, including changes in consumer
confidence, changes in the level of housing starts, declines in
employment levels, inflation and changes in the demand and prices of new
homes and resale homes in the market; (ii) a slower economic rebound
than anticipated, coupled with persistently high unemployment and
additional foreclosures; (iii) estimates related to homes to be
delivered in the future (backlog) are imprecise as they are subject to
various cancellation risks which cannot be fully controlled; (iv) a
substantial increase in mortgage interest rates, increased disruption in
the availability of mortgage financing or a change in tax laws regarding
the deductibility of mortgage interest; (v) factors affecting margins
such as decreased land values underlying lot option agreements,
increased land development costs on communities under development or
delays or difficulties in implementing initiatives to reduce production
and overhead cost structure; (vi) our cost of and ability to access
capital and otherwise meet our ongoing liquidity needs including the
impact of any downgrades of our credit ratings or reductions in our
tangible net worth or liquidity levels; (vii) our ability to comply with
covenants in our debt agreements or satisfy such obligations through
repayment or refinancing; (viii) increased competition or delays in
reacting to changing consumer preference in home design; (ix) shortages
of or increased prices for labor, land or raw materials used in housing
production; (x) additional asset impairment charges or writedowns; (xi)
the cost and availability of insurance and surety bonds; (xii) delays in
land development or home construction resulting from adverse weather
conditions; (xiii) potential delays or increased costs in obtaining
necessary permits and possible penalties for failure to comply with
laws, regulations and governmental policies; (xiv) effects of changes in
accounting policies, standards, guidelines or principles; or (xv)
terrorist acts, acts of war and other factors over which the Company has
little or no control. Under the terms of the land banking arrangement,
GSO retains the right to approve the terms of each land parcel
acquisition. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that all or
any portion of the $150 million described herein will be funded.
Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which
such statement is made, and, except as required by law, we do not
undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible
for management to predict all such factors.
![](http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=bwnews&sty=20130327005147r1&sid=ntxv4&distro=nx)