A year after Legal & General pulled out of the modular house manufacturing business, the insurance giant is now looking for a buyer for its Cala Homes division, a traditional house-builder/developer.
Sky News has reported that Persimmon is planning a bid for Cala, which has a £1bn price tag. Taylor Wimpey and Avant Homes are also expected to consider bids, it is reported. Avant Homes is the private equity-backed vehicle of former Persimmon chief executive Jeff Fairburn.
Cala began life in 1875 as the City of Aberdeen Land Association. Legal & General has owned it outright since 2018, when it was valued at £600m.
In 2023 Cala Group turned over £1.25bn and made a pre-tax profit of £104m, completing the sale of 2,917 homes from across 82 sites around the UK. During the year it contracted 19 new sites to deliver 2,705 new homes with a gross development value (GDV) of £1.4bn and an average selling price of £526,000. It has a landbank of more than 21,000 plots, with a GDV of £8.85bn.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
