Dive Brief
- Sumitomo Forestry America, the U.S. housing and wood products subsidiary of Japanese giant Sumitomo Forestry, has acquired the operating platform of apartment developer JPI. The acquisition is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2023.
- Sumitomo Forestry has committed over $200 million in seven JPI communities since 2019. JPI will maintain its name and headquarters in Irving, Texas, supplemented by San Diego and Irvine, California offices. The developer will manage all of its assets currently under construction until they are completed.
- Current JPI CEO Payton Mayes and Chief Financial and Investment Officer Mollie Fadule have acquired minority interests in the company and will operate it autonomously within the Sumitomo Forestry conglomerate. Before coming to JPI, the pair worked together at Merrill Lynch in 2006 and co-founded Southlake, Texas-based private equity firm Cephas Partners in 2012.
Dive Insight:
The JPI acquisition is just another step in the expansion of Sumitomo Forestry’s growing U.S. residential portfolio. The company bought Charlotte-based Crescent Communities’ multifamily, single-family, commercial and mixed-use businesses in 2018.
“This collaboration with JPI is a significant milestone in our continued commitment to fostering sustainable communities,” Atsushi Iwasaki, the leader of Sumitomo Forestry’s U.S. operations, said in the news release announcing the deal.
Sumitomo Forestry has also bought a number of American homebuilders, including:
- Dallas-based Gehan Homes
- Southlake, Texas-based Bloomfield Homes
- Addison, Texas-based Brightland Homes
- Kirkland, Washington-based MainVue Homes
- Rockville, Maryland-based DRB Group
- Draper, Utah-based Edge Homes
With the purchase of JPI, Sumitomo Forestry gets the fastest-growing developer and the second fastest-growing builder in the U.S., according to the National Multifamily Housing Council. Last April, the company focused on affordable, workforce and market-rate housing ranked as the No. 8 developer on the association’s annual list. It was the eleventh largest builder.
In the press release announcing the deal, Mayes said his relationship with Iwasaki dated back to 2014.
“Sumitomo’s consistent partnership and investment in JPI projects since 2019 is a testament to their confidence and faith in our vision,” Mayes said in the release. “This acquisition amplifies JPI’s influence in the housing sector and charts a definitive path for JPI’s sustained growth.”
With the sale, co-founder Bobby Page will be stepping back. “It has been an honor and a privilege to steward JPI for the past 34 years,” he said in the release. “The journey has been rewarding, marked with unrelenting passion and resilience.”
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