Legal & General (L&G) Group has announced the full ownership acquisition of CALA Homes.

The deal, which is worth £605 million, will see the Group pay £315m to Patron Capital Partners to takeover a 52.1% share of CALA it did not own.

In 2017, CALA Homes delivered 1,677 total completions, with 1,322 private homes sold at an average selling price of £497,000. Over 60% of its came from its English regions, with the remainder from within Scotland.

Kerrigan Procter, Chief Executive Officer of Legal & General Capital, said: "Legal & General is delighted to assume full ownership of CALA Homes, a growing business which we know and understand well.

"It has a strong management team with proven experience of managing a house building business across business cycles, and has delivered great returns for shareholders since its acquisition in 2013, having tripled in revenue during this time.

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"I am excited to be working with the team as CALA Homes continues to develop and grow under our continued ownership."

Alan Brown, Chief Executive of CALA Homes, added: "Today's investment by Legal & General marks the start of another exciting new chapter for CALA Homes and is a fantastic endorsement of our growth potential from one of the UK's most highly-respected, blue-chip investors who shares our long-term vision."

Mark Farmer, Chief Executive Officer of Cast and author of an independent review into the capacity of the homebuilding industry, said L&G's move is "encouraging for the entire sector".

"An injection of large scale fresh capital combined with L&G's much broader strategic ambitions to tackle the UK housing crisis on a number of fronts can only be a good thing," he said.

"At a time of increasing uncertainty for the construction sector, acquisitions like this provide the strong and decisive leadership needed to address the industry's many shortfalls. As the capacity of the homebuilding industry continues to be challenged by skills shortages and Brexit-related risks in the movement of labour, the industry must think of novel and innovative ways to deliver more housing across all tenures to a high quality and also to deliver associated vital infrastructure projects."

(LM)