British-based John Laing Homes, the top-selling and number one-ranked new-home builder in Orange County, Calif., and Encino, Calif.-based Watt Residential Partners have announced a merger to form one of the top 30 home-building companies in the United States.

The new merger, forged after months of discussion, is borne out of both builders' plans for major continued expansion. In 1998 alone, the combined company is expected to have revenues of $400 million, with plans to build more than 2,000 homes, officials report.

The new corporate entity will be known as WL Homes LLC, under which the separate identities of both John Laing Homes and Watt Homes will be retained in the current markets. WL Homes will have headquarters in Irvine.

Ray Watt, founder of Watt Homes and a legend in the home-building industry, will serve on the six-member board of directors. H. Lawrence Webb, president of John Laing Homes' California division, was named chief executive officer of WL Homes.

"This is the largest and only true merger in which two large home builders came together and carefully considered the most effective way to achieve the best interests for all," Webb says. "Our visions of growth are aligned, and by combining forces we expect to expand rapidly into the new millennium."

Both Watt and Webb have been recognized as industry leaders in California. Watt was selected for the "Builders Hall of Fame" by the National Association of Home Builders in 1985. Webb is a former president of the Building Industry Association in Orange County and was named Builder of the Year in 1996 by Builder & Developer magazine in California.

Starting in 1947, Ray Watt has overseen the building of more than 100,000 residences in the western United States. Watt Residential Partners was formed in 1994 as a joint venture between Watt and Whitehall Street Limited Partnership III, a real estate investment fund administered by Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Watt Residential Partners currently has five divisions, covering California, Utah, Hawaii, Colorado, and Nevada.

In 1969, Watt was appointed assistant secretary of housing and urban development. Later that year, he was elected president of the National Corporation of Housing Partnerships, a corporation established by Congress to accelerate development of middle- and low- income housing.

John Laing Homes has been in the midst of a tremendous growth phase over the past three years since Webb became head of the California division in April 1995. Since that time, John Laing Homes has dramatically moved up from No. 16 to No. 1 in Orange County new-home sales.

Webb, a onetime schoolteacher in upstate New York and formerly president of Kaufman & Broad and Greystone Homes' Orange County Division, emphasizes that John Laing Homes will remain aggressively committed to the Southern California market.

"We have two firms who have succeeded in establishing name recognition in their markets, and so each of us will retain that valuable asset by operating under our current names while still coming together on a corporate basis," Webb says. "The rich 200-year combined history of both companies will position us as one of the most experienced home builders in the United States."

John Laing Homes is a subsidiary of John Laing PLC, a publicly traded company based in the United Kingdom. The company, founded in 1848, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. The builder has U.S. divisions in California and Virginia. The California division opened in 1984 and currently has new-home communities from Valencia to San Clemente.

Last year, John Laing Homes had its highest single year in sales, with 717 homes sold, representing $158 million. In 1997, it added a Los Angeles division. In early 1998, before the merger announcement, John Laing Homes announced plans to open 12 new-home communities in California, an unprecedented number for the builder.

WL Homes will be composed of eight divisions. A majority of the company's home-building activity will occur in the surging Southern California market, with that division expected to make up approximately 50 percent of the revenue, officials report.

Published: May 5, 1998

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