Technical Olympic USA (TOUSA), Inc. - Residential Home Builder

Search

2008-01-29

stories: bloomberg.com, bizjournals.com, bizjournals.com, businesswire.com, msn.com, forbes.com, bizjournals.com, msn.com, reuters.com

After a spectacular year-long swan dive, TOUSA has formally filed for bankruptcy. Bloomberg writes:

The company, based in Hollywood, Florida, listed assets of $2.3 billion and debt of $1.8 billion in a Chapter 11 petition filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There were 37 affiliates that also filed today.

Tousa, the largest builder by assets and debts in bankruptcy and at least the 14th to file since June, missed three interest payments this month as home sales and prices fell in Florida, where the company does most of its business. The builder never recovered from the August 2005 purchase of Transeastern Properties Inc., a closely held Coral Springs, Florida-based homebuilder, said Robert Curran, a managing director at Fitch Ratings in New York who covers builders.

Gross revenue for TOUSA was $2.6 billion in 2006, according to BuilderOnline. The company ranked 13th on that list; making it our largest implosion to date.

permalink to this record | forum thread

Comments: Be the first to add a comment

add a comment | go to forum thread

Note: Comments may take a few minutes to show up on this page. If you go to the forum thread, however, you can see them immediately.

Important: This company is on our list of builder operations that have "imploded" (see also ailing lenders). This is a somewhat subjective call, and does not necessarily mean total shutdown or bankruptcy. It can also mean steep and rapid declines in enterprise value; or abnormal "bail-out" by corporate parents or peers in order to continue to operate. The builders may be residential or commercial.