Pulte Homes (PHM) changed its name to PulteGroup as part of an overall rebanding effort by the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based homebuilder. The PulteGroup national homebuilding brands include Centex, Del Webb and Pulte Homes and the company has regional brands with DiVosta Homes in Florida and Fox & Jacobs in Texas. Each PulteGroup division targets different homebuyer segments — Centex caters to entry-level housing, Pulte Homes sells move-up homes and Del Webb targets adults age 55 and older. The company also operates a mortgage banking division, Pulte Mortgage, originating loans to its new home customers that it sells to Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). “The PulteGroup name is part of our strategic initiative to increase our brand recognition within our targeted market segments,” said PulteGroup chairman, president and CEO Richard Dugas, Jr. “We are separating the corporate function from the consumer-facing brand names. The PulteGroup umbrella creates a house of brands model — a first in homebuilding — allowing us to emphasize the names of our homebuilding brands in the marketplace,” he added. Pulte shareholders approved the new name in August 2009, concurrent with the closing of the Pulte-Centex merger. Since the merger, Pulte recorded losses of $361.4m in Q309 and $117m in Q409. In February, company founder William “Bill” Pulte, resigned from the Pulte board of directors. Write to Austin Kilgore. The author held no relevant investments.

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