Japanese company to buy major Texas homebuilder for about $514 million

A global homebuilder and developer has made a big play in the Texas housing market, continuing a series of investments in the region by Japanese companies.

Osaka, Japan-based Sekisui House Ltd., one of the largest homebuilders in Japan, has agreed to buy Chesmar Homes LLC in a roughly $514 million transaction, the company said Friday.

The deal also includes Chesmar sister companies CLM Mortgage Inc., Entitled Insurance Inc. and N Title Inc.

Chesmar, headquartered in the Houston area, owns more than 6,000 home lots and closed on 2,082 home sales in 2021 in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. The company reached about $810 million in net sales in 2021.

The builder started 190 homes and closed on 205 homes in North Texas in the four quarters ending in March, according to Dallas-based Residential Strategies.

Chesmar is marketing homes in North Texas from the mid-$300,000s to about $700,000, according to its website. The company builds at more than a dozen communities in the area, including The Hills at Legacy in Prosper, Stone Creek in Rockwall and Park Trails in Forney.

“The addition of Chesmar to the Sekisui House family enables us to gain immediate scale in several leading markets in the attractive Texas region,” said Rick Robideau, CEO of Sekisui House’s U.S. subsidiary. “We believe that we can provide the capital and efficiencies to help Chesmar grow and enhance its competitive position while continuing to build dream homes for Texas families.”

Sekisui House has previously acquired other large U.S. homebuilders, including Utah-based Woodside Homes Co. LLC in 2017 and Holt Group Holdings LLC of Vancouver, Washington, in 2021.

Sekisui House is no stranger to North Texas. It has partnered on master-planned communities and apartment developments across the state, including Hollyhock in Frisco and Canyon Falls in Flower Mound, both joint ventures with Brookfield Properties.

Worldwide, Sekisui House has delivered 2.5 million homes and has more than 28,000 employees, as of Jan. 31.

“Chesmar Homes has been the adventure of my life”, said Don Klein, founder and CEO of Chesmar. “We look forward to being part of Sekisui House’s collection of companies and supporting its goal of creating over 10,000 happy customers annually in its international markets.”

Citi, Hearthstone and Morrison & Foerster LLP advised Sekisui House in the deal. Builder Advisor Group; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; and Krage & Janvey LLP worked with Chesmar.

This is the latest in a series of investments in D-FW housing by Japan-based firms.

Misawa Homes America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Misawa Homes Co. Ltd. of Japan, signed an agreement in 2018 to buy 51% of Southlake-based Impression Homes.

In 2016, Japanese builder Sumitomo Forestry Co. purchased Dallas homebuilder Gehan Homes. In 2018, the same company acquired North Carolina-based Crescent Communities LLC, which has built apartments and single-family homes in North Texas.