By Marc Raybin
April 14, 2005

Private equity giant Warburg Pincus has invested $50 million in start-up home construction company Wall Homes.

Wall Homes, based in Arlington, Texas, offers affordable housing to first-time homeowners. The company's model calls for a focus on building smaller sub-divisions within communities. Each site will have no more 150 houses, according to Leibowitz.

"We have had good experiences in this industry and we are very comfortable with the market," said Reuben Leibowitz, a Warburg Pincus managing director, whose firm has a 20-year history of investing in residential homebuilders.

"It gives us the resources to compete in this industry," said Steve Wall, the chief executive officer of Wall Homes. "We are currently in the product development stage."

Wall Homes plans to break ground on its first neighborhood in the Dallas/Fort Worth area by this summer, said Wall.

Warburg Pincus is headquartered in New York and has $11 billion under management, of which more than $750 million has been put toward real estate businesses. Overall, the firm has a portfolio of 125 companies.