Pulte chairman to sell 4.75M shares in homebuilder

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Pulte Homes Inc.'s chief executive intends to sell about 4.8 million shares, or 11 percent of his personal stake in the homebuilder, through a prepaid variable forward contract, according to a regulatory filing Monday.

The contract allows William J. Pulte, who also founded the company, to receive cash now, while also keeping the right to maintain ownership of the stock at the end of the contract's 16-month term by settling it with cash.

Pulte also may keep an interest in a possible increase in the shares' value over the next same period, the company said. In addition, the contract protects Pulte against the potential decline in value of the shares.

The executive will use some of the proceeds of the contract to settle a previous, prepaid variable forward contract he entered into a year ago, the company said. The new contract combines the roughly 3.4 million shares pledged in the February 2008 contract with 1.4 million new shares.

Pulte Homes currently has about 257.5 million shares outstanding.