William Lyon Homes Inc.’s board has formed a committee of independent directors to consider the latest buyout offer by majority owner Gen. William Lyon, the company said Friday.
Lyon, the company’s 83-year old chairman and chief executive, last week offered $93 a share for the roughly 25% of the company’s shares he doesn’t control. That values the company at roughly $800 million.
The offer is 23% higher than William Lyon Homes’ closing price before the offer, which is good through mid-April.
Shares were trading near $96 Friday.
The members of the committee are Harold Greene, who chairs the group, economist Arthur Laffer and Lawrence Higby.
Higby, chief executive of Lake Forest-based Apria Healthcare Group Inc., joined the board in January. He sits alongside Lyon in the Republican group New Majority.
Close ties between Lyon and the company’s directors didn’t help his first offer, made last April.
The 2005 special committee rejected Lyon’s $82 per share offer, saying it was too low. Four directors later resigned.
The latest committee said that it has hired Morgan Stanley as its financial adviser and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as legal adviser to help it evaluate the offer.
