Investors’ Group Offers $17 Per Share for Del Webb Corp.
A group of investors has offered to acquire Del Webb Corp. in a deal valuing the Arizona real estate developer at $168 million, the group said today in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The group, which includes Calmark Associates and six other major investors, owns 5.12% of Phoenix-based Del Webb and has offered to acquire the company by merger or other transaction for $17 a share in cash.
Del Webb, a hotel/casino operator and real estate concern, owns the High Sierra resort in Lake Tahoe and runs a casino in Atlantic City. It also owns Arizona’s Sun City adult communities, which include business, residential and leisure complexes.
Del Webb is withholding comment on the offer until it receives the bid, spokesman Ed Wren said. Although the investor group said it had sent a letter to Del Webb directors, none has received it, Wren said.
One of the investors making the offer is believed to be ESA Associates LP, which made a $17.50-a-share buyout offer for Del Webb in July. The company rejected that offer, saying it did not have confidence in the group’s financing.
Seven investor groups are included in today’s offer, Wren said, quoting people who have seen the SEC filing.
Del Webb launched a restructuring in March to shed its leisure businesses after losing $91.7 million in 1987, largely because of losses in its Atlantic City unit, Wren said.
As part of the restructuring, Del Webb sold its Mint Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas and its Nevada Club in Laughlin for $67 million in June. The company is proceeding with its restructuring, Wren said, and will close Wednesday on a $77-million deal to sell its resort on the Utah/Arizona border.
