Lennar completes $643M acquisition of WCI Communities

Lennar's Stuart Miller and Keith Bass of WCI
Lennar's Stuart Miller and Keith Bass of WCI

Miami-based Lennar Corp. purchased Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities for $643 million.

Lennar announced the closing on Friday. The nation’s second biggest homebuilder paid $23.50 per WCI share, according to the announcement. The deal includes 13,700 home sites in coastal markets of Florida, as well as WCI’s brokerage and title services companies.

Lennar was ranked the second biggest homebuilder in the country according to the 2016 Builder 100 list. D.R. Horton came in at No. 1. WCI was No. 49, according to the list.

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As of Friday at 4 p.m., Lennar stock was trading at $46.81 a share, up 1.62 points. Lennar and WCI announced the deal in September.

In early January, Fitch Ratings assigned a ‘BB+/RR4’ rating to Lennar’s proposed offering of $350 million in senior unsecured notes, which the company expects to use to help fund its acquisition of WCI Communities and to possibly repay debt. But the deal was made in all cash, Lennar CEO Stuart Miller said. – Katherine Kallergis