The buyer, whose parent in Greece also builds in Britain and Romania, has agreed to pay $215 million for all of Engle's outstanding shares and assume $250 million of the company's debt.

Operating in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Texas and Arizona in addition to Florida, Engle is one this area's largest homebuilders of single-family and multifamily product.

The firm is especially active in Broward County where it sold 161 new homes for $38.8 million during this year's initial six months. For the first nine months of its current fiscal year, Engle generated $25.3 million of profit on revenues of $603.6 million.

Engle also operates mortgage and title insurance companies. In its most recent fiscal year, the firm had sales of $808 million.

Technical Olympic already had a presence in South Florida through its 80% interest in Houston-based Newmark Homes Corp., which has owned Miami's Westbrooke Communities since 1997. The Greek firm has indicated it might eventually combine the Engle and Newmark operations.