Beazer Homes USA

Last updated
Beazer Homes USA, Inc.
Company type Public company
NYSE:  BZH
Russell 2000 Component
Industry Home construction
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia
Key people
Stephen P. Zelnak, Chairman
Allan P. Merrill, President & CEO
Robert L. Salomon, CFO
[1]
Production output
5,419 deliveries [1]
RevenueIncrease2.svg $1.822 billion (2016) [1]
Increase2.svg $0.059 billion (2016) [1]
Total assets Decrease2.svg $2.213 billion (2016) [1]
Total equity Increase2.svg $0.643 billion (2016) [1]
Number of employees
1,100 (2016) [1]
Website www.beazer.com

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. is a home construction company based in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2016, the company was the 11th largest home builder in the United States based on the number of homes closed. [2] The company operates in 13 states. [1]

Contents

As of December 31, 2016, the company had 161 active communities. [1]

History

Beazer Homes USA was established in 1985 when Beazer, a British home construction company led by Brian Beazer, acquired Cohn Communities, an Atlanta-based home construction company. In 1986, the company acquired Gifford-Hill, a construction materials company. In 1988, it acquired Koppers in a hostile takeover. [3] [4]

In 1991, the British parent company was acquired by Hanson. [5]

In 1994, the company became a public company via an initial public offering. [6]

In 1997, the company acquired the assets of Calton Homes of Florida for $16.7 million. [7]

In 2002, the company acquired Crossman Communities for $489.7 million in cash and stock. [8]

In 2004, the company acquired and started development on 242 home sites on Polk County, Florida. [9]

In 2006, the company acquired 86 townhome sites in Seminole County, Florida. [10]

In 2018, Beazer Homes announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Venture Homes, a leading private homebuilder in Atlanta, for approximately $65 million. The transaction also includes substantial construction work in process as well as 51 homes in backlog. [11]

Controversies

Predatory lending and violations in mortgage servicing business

In March 2007, the company received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina seeking documents related to its mortgage loan origination services. [12] [13] The investigation followed articles in The Charlotte Observer which noted that the company's aggressive sales tactics led to an unusually high foreclosure rate in its developments. [14]

Alleged violations of securities laws

In July 2007, the company was investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after Chief Accounting Officer Michael T. Rand was fired for violating ethics policies by attempting to destroy documents related to the company's mortgage origination services. [15]

In 2014, Rand was found guilty of conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges. [16]

$50 million settlement

On July 1, 2009, the company reached a $50 million settlement with several government agencies and admitted to fraudulent mortgage practices including retaining mortgage points that should have been used to lower interest rates charged, misinforming buyers that they were receiving down payment help when instead the price of the home was increased, circumventing HUD watch list programs, and ignoring borrower incomes when originating loans. [17] [18] [19]

Settlement of captive title insurance kickback allegations

On October 30, 2007, the company agreed to pay $261,000 as part of a $1.4 million settlement by 6 home construction companies to resolve allegations by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that title insurance companies paid kickbacks to the builders in exchange for referrals. The companies denied wrongdoing and said that they settled to avoid legal expenses. [20] [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank of America</span> American multinational banking and financial services corporation

The Bank of America Corporation is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, with investment banking and auxiliary headquarters in Manhattan. The bank was founded by the merger of NationsBank and Bank of America in 1998. It is the second-largest banking institution in the United States and the second-largest bank in the world by market capitalization, both after JPMorgan Chase. Bank of America is one of the Big Four banking institutions of the United States. It serves about 10 percent of all American bank deposits, in direct competition with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Its primary financial services revolve around commercial banking, wealth management, and investment banking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PNC Financial Services</span> Major bank based in Pittsburgh

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District of Columbia, with 2,629 branches and 9,523 ATMs. PNC Bank is on the list of largest banks in the United States by assets and is one of the largest banks by number of branches, deposits, and number of ATMs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SunTrust Banks</span> Former American bank

SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was headquartered.

Heidelberg Materials UK is a British-based building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Previously known as Hanson UK, the company has been a subsidiary of the German company HeidelbergCement since August 2007, and was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ally Financial</span> American financial services company

Ally Financial Inc. is a bank holding company organized in Delaware and headquartered at Ally Detroit Center in Detroit, Michigan. The company provides financial services including car finance, online banking via a direct bank, corporate lending, vehicle insurance, mortgage loans, and other related financing services such as installment sale and lease agreements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RBC Bank</span> Former bank in the southeastern United States

RBC Bank is the trading name of RBC Bank (Georgia), N.A., the United States–based retail banking division of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) which is targeted toward Canadian snowbirds, expatriates, and frequent tourists. Despite its limited reach, RBC Bank is a federally chartered bank, thus its trading name bears "N.A." letters.

The Ryland Group, Inc. was a company engaged in home construction based in Westlake Village, California. In 2015, it was the 5th largest homebuilder in the United States. In October 2015, the company merged with Standard Pacific Homes to form CalAtlantic Homes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Koppers</span> Pittsburgh-based chemical company

Koppers is a global chemical and materials company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, in an art-deco 1920's skyscraper called the Koppers Tower.

Cookie jar accounting or cookie jar reserves is an accounting practice in which a company takes a quantity of large reserves from an economically successful year and incurs them against losses from less successful years. Through this process, companies can mislead investors into believing that their losses are less than the actual value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PulteGroup</span> American home building company

PulteGroup, Inc. is an American residential home-construction company based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. As of 2023, the company is the third-largest home-construction company in the United States based on the number of homes closed. In total, the company has built over 775,000 homes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lennar</span> American home construction and real estate company

Lennar Corporation is a home construction company based in Miami-Dade County, Florida. As of 2023, it is the second-largest home construction company in the United States based on the number of homes sold. Lennar also has investments in multifamily and single family residential rental properties and investments in property technology companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omnicare</span> American health care company

Omnicare is an American company working in the health-care industry. It was established in April 1981 as a spinoff of healthcare businesses from Chemed and W. R. Grace and Company. It is currently a pharmacy specializing in nursing homes. In 2015, Omnicare was acquired by CVS Health.

In the United States, Medicare fraud is the claiming of Medicare health care reimbursement to which the claimant is not entitled. There are many different types of Medicare fraud, all of which have the same goal: to collect money from the Medicare program illegitimately.

Phillip E. Hill Sr. was the ringleader of the largest mortgage fraud scheme ever prosecuted in the State of Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Home Depot</span> American multinational home improvement supplies retailing company

The Home Depot, Inc. is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States. In 2021, the company had 490,600 employees and more than $151 billion in revenue. The company is headquartered in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, with an Atlanta mailing address.

Adam B. Resnick is an American health care entrepreneur, public speaker, author, and professional whistleblower.

Onity Group, formerly Ocwen, is a provider of residential and commercial mortgage loan servicing, special servicing, and asset management services, which has been described as "debt collectors, collecting monthly principal and interest from homeowners". Ocwen was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, with additional offices in Mount Laurel, NJ, Rancho Cordova, California, and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It also has support operations in the Philippines and India. On June 10th, 2024, Ocwen rebranded as Onity Group. Onity's Slogan is "We Get It Done."

Beazer was a family business for six generations before expanding in the 1980s into an international housebuilding, construction, and building materials group. After becoming overburdened with debt it was rescued by Hanson plc in 1991. A new Beazer Group, comprising solely the UK housebuilding business, was demerged from Hanson in 1994, and bought by Persimmon plc in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ICI Homes</span>

ICI Homes is a custom homebuilding company based in the United States, founded in 1979 as Intervest Construction, Inc. in Daytona Beach, Florida, its present-day headquarters. The company has built over 10,000 homes since its founding.

Birch Communications was an American provider of IP-based communications, network broadband, cloud computing, and information technology services to small, mid-sized, enterprise and wholesale business customers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. It was acquired by Fusion Connect in 2018 and integrated into the company. Founded in 1996 in the wake of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, several years later the company began acquiring other telecom companies in an effort to increase its network size and service offerings. Birch Communications raised $77.5 million in funding in 2011, and $110 million in funding in 2012 after it financed a new $90 million facility.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Beazer Homes USA, Inc. 2016 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  2. "The Top 100: 2017". builderonline.com.
  3. Bohn, Earl (March 29, 1988). "HEINZ SEEKS TO HALT KOPPERS TAKEOVER". The Washington Post .
  4. EICHENWALD, KURT (April 24, 1988). "Takeover With a Twist". The New York Times .
  5. HICKS, JONATHAN P. (September 17, 1991). "Hanson to Buy Beazer In $609 Million Deal". The New York Times .
  6. "HANSON TAKES BEAZER HOMES PUBLIC AND SELLS PROPERTY". The New York Times . February 24, 1994.
  7. "Beazer acquires Florida home builder". American City Business Journals. December 1, 1997.
  8. "Beazer Homes Agrees to Acquire Crossman in $489.7 Million Deal". The Wall Street Journal. January 31, 2002.(subscription required)
  9. "Beazer Homes acquires 242 home sites in Polk County". American City Business Journals. April 1, 2004.
  10. "Beazer acquires town home sites in Seminole County". American City Business Journals. August 21, 2006.
  11. "Beazer Homes Announces Agreement to Acquire Venture Homes in Atlanta, Releases Preliminary Fiscal Third Quarter Results and Provides Outlook for Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019". www.businesswire.com. 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  12. "Beazer Gets Grand Jury Subpoena In Probe of Mortgage Business". CNBC. Reuters. March 29, 2007.
  13. "Builder Is Subpoenaed on Mortgage Loans". The New York Times . March 29, 2007.
  14. APPELBAUM, BINYAMIN; HAMMERSLY MUNN, LISA; MELLNIK, TED (June 4, 2009). "Sold a nightmare: Part 1 of 4". The Charlotte Observer.
  15. "SEC formalizes Beazer investigation". American City Business Journals. July 23, 2007.
  16. "Charlotte Jury Finds Former Chief Accounting Officer For Beazer Homes USA, Inc. Guilty Of Accounting Fraud And Obstruction Of Justice In Second Trial" (Press release). United States Department of Justice. July 18, 2014.
  17. "Beazer Homes U.S.A., Inc. Reaches $50,000,000 Settlement of Mortgage and Accounting Fraud with United States" (Press release). Federal Bureau of Investigation. July 1, 2009.
  18. "United States Settles False Claims Act Allegations Against National Home Builder and Mortgage Lender" (Press release). United States Department of Justice. July 1, 2009.
  19. HENRIQUES, DIANA B. (July 1, 2009). "Beazer Homes Reaches Deal on Fraud Charges". The New York Times .
  20. "Beazer Homes, other builders agree to $1.4M HUD settlement". American City Business Journals. October 30, 2007.
  21. "Builders to settle kickback probes". Bloomberg News . Los Angeles Times. October 30, 2007.