CALIFORNIA-Toll Brothers, Inc., the nation's leading builder of luxury homes, has completed its acquisition of the homebuilding operations of Shapell Industries, LLC, a premier private California land development and home building company, for approximately $1.6 billion in cash.

The purchase includes approximately 5,200 home sites, 97.5% of which are entitled, in established coastal California communities. This land was assembled by Shapell over many decades in many of Northern and Southern California's most affluent and high-growth markets: the San Francisco Bay area, metro Los Angeles, Orange County and the Carlsbad market.

“We announced this transaction on November 6, 2013. Since then, we have focused on integrating Shapell Homes into our company, and have become even more excited about the Shapell land portfolio and the approximately 100 Shapell associates who will be joining our team,” said Douglas Yearley, Toll Brothers' chief executive officer. “The portfolio of entitled land we are acquiring may be the last great concentrated assemblage of this scale and quality in coastal California. The combination of the Shapell and Toll Brothers teams and land holdings gives us one of the premier platforms in several of the nation's most dynamic housing markets.

Robert Toll, executive chairman, stated: "The scale and quality of the land that the Shapell family amassed coupled with the dynamism of the markets where their sites are located make this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With this acquisition, we look forward to many more years of success as we enter our third decade serving the residents of coastal Northern and Southern California."

Toll Brothers financed the acquisition with a new $485 million 5-yearsenior unsecured floating rate bank term loan, as well as $600 million of recently issued 5-year and 10-year senior unsecured debt and $230 million of common stock. The balance of the funds will consist of a $370 million draw from its existing $1.035 billion 5-year bank revolving credit facility. Toll Brothers intends to selectively sell approximately $500 million of land to return some expended capital and manage its California concentration. As a result of these lot sales and the delivery of existing backlog, the company believes it will recapture a significant portion of its investment within eighteen months of closing the transaction.