Irvine-based homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp. has struck a $210 million credit line that the company plans to put to use buying land to build homes on.
The credit line runs for three years and can be expanded to $400 million if additional banks sign on and other conditions are met, according to Standard Pacific.
The credit line adds to some $700 million in cash Standard Pacific has on hand and “provides us further flexibility to carry out our stated strategy of pursuing land acquisitions,” Chief Executive Ken Campbell said.
Standard Pacific closed on $33.6 million worth of land buys in the fourth quarter and had approvals for another $45 million of land deals as of early February.
The company spent about $315 million on land buys for all of 2010.
Standard Pacific is the largest homebuilder based in the county.
The housing downturn drove Standard Pacific to the brink of bankruptcy in 2008, when the company struck a $530 million financing deal with New York-based MatlinPatterson Global Advisers LLC.
The deal saw MatlinPatterson buy $381 million in new stock and retire $128.5 million worth of Standard Pacific debt in exchange for warrants for stock.
Late last year, Standard Pacific reworked an agreement with MatlinPatterson that allowed the firm to exercise warrants to buy Standard Pacific stock at a discount.
Standard Pacific used proceeds from the warrant conversion for land acquisitions and to apply for the new credit line.
