£537m bid for Beazer will create biggest housebuilder in UK – but job losses expected.
Persimmon this week launched its bid to create the UK's largest housebuilder by making a £537m offer for Beazer.

The move, which will create a £1.6bn group, sparked speculation about the future of Beazer's management in the wake of its collapsed merger with Bryant.

It came two days after Bryant agreed a bid from Taylor Woodrow at the start of the week (see below), and a week after a bidding war broke out for Bryant and Beazer.

Persimmon chief executive John White told Building that he was confident that the deal would be accepted.

He said: "We now believe this is a full and fair offer. Apart from the price, the attraction to Beazer shareholders should be that they have the opportunity to have a share in the UK's leading housebuilder, managed by a team that has gone through a process of acquiring a big business." He said Persimmon had a good track record following its acquisition of Ideal Homes from Trafalgar House in 1996.

White refused to be drawn on the future of the Beazer management, which is led by chief executive John Low, but said there would be job losses across the group.

Certainly Beazer has a lot of good middle management, which we would want to keep

John white, Persimmon

He said: "You have to look at the performance of Persimmon versus Beazer. I do not think we can be specific about individuals.

"Certainly, Beazer has a lot of good middle management, which we would want to keep. But when you put two businesses together, there will be a variety of levels of people who will not be required." White refused to say where jobs would be axed, but the number of offices would be reduced from 36 to 24. White said the new group would be split into three: Persimmon North, Persimmon South and Charles Church, Beazer's upmarket subsidiary. The Beazer brand will not be used.

White said this new structure would eventually lead to the group building about 13 500 houses a year. Charles Church is expected to more than double its output from 450 to 1000 houses a year.

He said the decision last year to divide the firm into northern and southern divisions gave the group a good launch pad. "That gave us a platform for further organic growth and to take on any acquisitions. We are set up to do that in terms of volumes of houses," he said.