MILLER GROUP, Britain’s largest privately owned house-building, property development and construction group, agreed yesterday a £264 million deal to buy Fairclough Homes, the Surrey-based builder, from Centex Corporation, one of America’s biggest volume housebuilders.

The deal will propel Miller into the top ten housebuilders in Britain, from its current twelfth position. The Edinburgh-based group believes that the deal will expand its housing business outside its traditional Scottish heartlands into the North West, Yorkshire, the West Midlands and the South of England.

It is believed that Miller beat competition from larger rivals such as Persimmon, Westbury and Redrow. Fairclough Homes was put up for sale at the start of the summer.

The transaction will lift Miller’s group turnover to £1.1 billion and increase turnover in the housing division to around £700 million. Meanwhile, its landbank will rise to 16,943 plots, equivalent to four years’ supply. Miller claims that it will benefit from the increased purchasing power of the combined organisation.

The company also played down concerns that it was buying the business at the wrong time in the market cycle. Keith Miller, the group chief executive, said that the macro- economic outlook for the British housing market remained very positive, with growing household formation, high home ownership aspirations, high levels of employment and comparatively low interest rates.

He added that, as a private company, Miller could afford to take a long-term view. “The market is tough and challenging, but we are geared-up to deal with that. It may well prove exactly the right time to be buying,” he said.

Mr Miller said that it would take between six and twelve months to fully integrate the two businesses, but in the medium-term the group expected to play a leading role in the consolidation of the housebuilding sector and would remain on the lookout for further acquisitions.

The move comes after a fresh round of takeovers in housebuilding. Crosby Homes has been snapped up by Lend Lease, the Australian construction company, and takeover rumours swirl around George Wimpey, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, since it revealed a fall in pre-tax profits.

The Fairclough Homes deal comes just days after Miller revealed record interim profits, up 28 per cent to £41.1 million in the six months to June 30. Turnover rose £1.9 million to £354.8 million.

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