J.M. Peters Stake Sold

Capital Pacific Holdings Inc., the parent company of home builder J.M. Peters Co., has agreed to sell a 16.57% stake to an unnamed investor for $10 million.

Chairman Hadi Makarechian will retain a 58% controlling stake in the restructured building firm. Makarechian and Capital Pacific chief executive Dale Dowers purchased the company from the Resolution Trust Co. for $47.5 million in 1992.

Officials declined to comment on the agreement. However, Makarechian said in a prepared statement that the deal would “provide the company with valuable access to new capital and the potential of reducing its financing costs.” The investor also plans to pump an additional $30 million into Capital Pacific’s projects.

The building firm has been growing rapidly in recent years, expanding out of Southern California and into Texas, Nevada and Arizona. That expansion was financed in part by $100 million in bond debt, which carries a hefty 12.75% interest rate.

In May, Makarechian said he had lined up Morgan Stanley & Co. to market all or part of the company to new investors.