British housebuilder George Wimpey said today it had agreed to a takeover of Alfred McAlpine's main housebuilding unit.
Wimpey said it would buy McAlpine Homes for £461 million sterling in cash and that the takeover would increase its exposure to the affluent southern England market, where house prices have continued to rise despite signs of economic recession in Britain.
The deal is the latest takeover to hit Britain's housebuilding sector, after Persimmon bought Beazer Group and Taylor Woodrow acquired Bryant Group earlier in the year.
UK builders have been consolidating to cut costs and lift margins by integrating operations.
With this deal, Wimpey would have a market capitalisation of around £1 billion, joining Persimmon and Berkeley as Britain's biggest housebuilders by stock market value.
Wimpey said in a statement the acquisition was expected to deliver £18 million of annual cost savings from 2002.