Executives at The New Home Co. think that the company’s transition to a publicly traded company will help “supercharge” its growth in Orange County and its other core California markets.
The Aliso Viejo-based company, formed in the wake of the last housing downturn in 2009, raised about $86 million in its initial public offering on Jan. 31.
The homebuilder’s shares, priced at $11, were trading closer to $12 at the end of its first day of trading amid a choppy market, putting the company’s valuation at about $200 million.
New Home Co. is the first OC-based company to go public this year and the third local builder to have an IPO since the start of 2013. TRI Pointe Homes Inc. in Irvine and Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes Inc. went public last year.
“It’s an exciting day for us,” Tom Redwitz, chief operating officer of New Home Co., said from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on the morning of the IPO. “It’s a big milestone in our company’s history.”
The IPO’s proceeds, and the ability to raise more money in the public markets, will help the company scout out new land opportunities and fund development, with OC remaining a key focus, executives said.
“We’re going to be one of the largest builders in Orange County,” said Redwitz, whose company’s most prominent local development is the Lambert Ranch community in Irvine.
The IPO “will supercharge our growth,” said Larry Webb, New Home Co.’s chief executive.
The builder, which has sold out the 169-home Lambert Ranch development, has several projects in the works locally, including the 79-home Meridian condominium project in Newport Center and a 31-home project in San Juan Capistrano called Oliva.
New Home Co. is building high-end homes under its own name at the Orchard Hills development in Irvine, and it also has a deal with the project’s master developer, Newport Beach-based Irvine Company, to build close to 800 homes under a fee-building contract.
The company is also building in Valencia in Los Angeles County and Thousand Oaks in Ventura County, as well as several sites in Northern California. It has been cited as a potential buyer of the Marblehead Coastal project in San Clemente, where about 300 homes are planned. A decision on the winning bidder for that site, currently owned by New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., could come this month.
Redwitz declined to discuss New Home Co.’s potential involvement in Marblehead.
“It’s a great property, though, and would be right in our wheelhouse,” Redwitz said.
