John Laing Chief Is Out, Emaar Exec In

Orange County Business Journal, May 5-May 11, 2008 by Mueller, Mark

REAL ESTATE: Larry Webb is first leadership change since deal

Newport Beach-based homebuilder John Laing Homes, two years after being bought by Dubai's Emaar Properties, is seeing the first big change hi its executive ranks.

Longtime homebuilding executive Larry Webb is stepping down as chief executive of the company he's headed since 1995, effective at the end of the month.

He's set to be replaced by Robert Booth, who currently serves as managing director for Emaar's Canada operations. Booth will retain that position and take the top spot at John Laing, according to the company.

Booth joined Emaar in 2001. He counts more than 15 years of experience developing masterplanned real estate projects, and has worked on Emaar's construction of the world's largest housing development in Dubai.

Booth will be working to transition John Laing from a regional to national homebuilder, the company said in a statement.

John Laing's operations long have been centered on California and Colorado. Last year it opened divisions hi Phoenix and in Texas.

It's the first major change hi leadership at John Laing since the company-formerly the country's second-largest privately held builder-was bought by Emaar in 2006.

Emaar, one of the biggest real estate companies in the Middle East, paid about $1.1 billion for John Laing, to break into the U.S. housing market.

The deal was made at the peak of the homebuilding market when John Laing was doing close to $1.6 billion in sales annually.

That figure no doubt has dropped since the acquisition. Emaar doesn't disclose results for John Laing but did say the homebuilder's revenue fell by about $327 million from the fourth quarter to the first quarter, according to the company's most recent quarterly report.

Webb won't be walking away empty-handed. The sale to Emaar was a big payday for Webb and then-chairman Ray Watt, who were part of an investment group that owned a good portion of John Laing.

Watt opted to step down as chairman following the acquisition.

Webb said at the time the deal was struck that staying in charge of John Laing was a key reason that he and the rest of the company's executive team opted to do a deal with Eraaar. He could not be reached last week for comment.

His exit is the second big departure in Orange County's struggling homebuilding industry in recent months.

In March, Stephen Scarborough, former chief executive of Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp., abruptly announced his retirement after a 27-year career with the largest homebuilder based here.

Scarborough was replaced by Jeffrey Peterson, who has served as a director of Standard Pacific since 2001 and as lead independent director since 2004.

John Laing's executive change comes as the company is nearing completion of a new headquarters in Irvine.

The builder is moving into the third mid-rise building nearing completion at Scholle Center on Jamboree Road. It will be leasing about 65,000 square feet at the five-story, 125,000-square-foot building, which is wrapping up construction. The building is less than a mile from John Laing's current headquarters on Dove Street in Newport Beach. Scholle Center also is home to mortgage investor Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. as well as the local offices of Google Inc.