MIAMI, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/-- Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN
and LEN.B), one of the nation's largest homebuilders, and Morgan Stanley
Real Estate, an affiliate of Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc., announced today
that they have formed a strategic land investment venture to acquire,
develop, manage and sell residential real estate. Concurrent with its
formation, the new investment venture acquired a diversified portfolio of
land from Lennar.
The properties acquired by the new entity consist of approximately
11,000 homesites in 32 communities located throughout the country. The land
portfolio includes a mix of raw land as well as partially and fully
developed homesites in both active and future communities. The communities
are located in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Nevada and New Jersey.
Lennar acquired a 20% ownership interest and 50% voting rights in the
investment venture. As of September 30, 2007, the acquired properties had a
net book value of approximately $1.3 billion and the sales price was $525
million. Lennar will manage the land investment venture's operations and
will receive fees for its services. It will also receive disproportionate
distributions to the extent the investment venture exceeds financial
targets. As a part of the transaction, Lennar entered into option
agreements and rights of first offer providing Lennar the opportunity to
purchase certain finished homesites at current market values at the time of
exercise from the investment venture.
Stuart Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lennar
Corporation said: "We are very pleased to expand our long-standing
relationship with Morgan Stanley. The combined expertise and resources
provided by the Lennar / Morgan Stanley team will allow us to maximize the
value of this portfolio and provide a footprint to capitalize on
inefficiencies in today's residential real estate market. This transaction
provides us with increased liquidity and flexibility at an opportune time."
Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corp. acted as sole lead arranger for
the non-recourse acquisition financing to the investment venture. Morgan
Stanley acted as financial advisor to Morgan Stanley Real Estate.
About Lennar Corporation
Lennar Corporation, founded in 1954, is one of the nation's leading
builders of quality homes for all generations. The Company builds
affordable, move-up and retirement homes primarily under the Lennar brand
name. Lennar's Financial Services segment provides primarily mortgage
financing, title insurance and closing services for both buyers of the
Company's homes and others. Previous press releases and further information
about the Company may be obtained at the "Investor Relations" section of
the Company's website, http://www.lennar.com.
About Morgan Stanley Real Estate
Morgan Stanley Real Estate is comprised of three major global
businesses: Investing, Banking and Lending. Since 1991, Morgan Stanley Real
Estate has acquired $158.1 billion of real estate assets worldwide and
currently manages $88.3 billion in real estate assets on behalf of its
clients. A complete range of market-leading investment banking services for
real estate clients include advice on strategy, mergers, acquisitions and
restructurings, as well as underwriting public and private debt and equity
financings. As a global leader in real estate lending, Morgan Stanley has
offered approximately $199.6 billion of CMBS through the capital markets
since 1997, including $36.1 billion through the third quarter of 2007. For
more information about Morgan Stanley Real Estate, please visit
http://www.morganstanley.com/realestate.
Some of the statements in this press release are "forward-looking
statements," as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. These forward looking statements include statements
regarding our business, financial condition, results of operations,
strategies and prospects. You can identify forward-looking statements by
the fact that these statements do not relate strictly to historical or
current matters. Rather, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated
or expected events, activities, trends or results. Because forward-looking
statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements
are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause
Lennar's actual activities or results to differ materially from the
activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements. These
factors include those described under the caption "Risk Factors" in Item 1A
of Lennar's Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended November
30, 2006. Lennar does not undertake any obligation to update
forward-looking statements.
SOURCE Lennar Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.lennar.com
http://www.morganstanley.com/realestate
Photo Notes:
NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070227/CLTU194LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/507038.html/
CONTACT:
Scott Shipley, Investor Relations, Lennar
Corporation, +1-305-485-2054
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