Press Release
On Monday September 12th, 2022, it was publicly announced that Great Southern Homes (GSH), one of the largest homebuilders in the Southeast, entered into a definitive merger agreement with DiamondHead Holdings Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. Upon closing of the merger, GSH will become a publicly traded company, and DiamondHead (NASDAQ: DHHC) will be renamed United Homes Group, Inc. and is expected to trade under the new ticker symbol “UHG.”
In connection with this announcement, Michael Nieri, Founder and CEO of GSH, said, “For over 20 years I have worked to build GSH into the leading Southeast homebuilder it is today. I am excited for the next chapter for GSH, where, through the combination of my operational expertise with David Hamamoto's public company and capital markets experience, we plan to grow UHG into a leading national homebuilder.”
David Hamamoto, Chairman and co-CEO of Diamondhead Holdings Corp., commented: “We are thrilled to partner with Michael Nieri and the GSH team and look forward to executing on our shared long-term vision. We are impressed with the scale and operational performance of GSH, and we are excited to work with the GSH team in continuing their growth as a public homebuilder.”
GSH was founded in 2004 and through CEO Michael Nieri's vision and leadership has enjoyed unprecedented and consistent growth in the single-family residential building industry in South Carolina and in Georgia. GSH has maintained consistent and calculated growth through turbulent and prosperous times in our economy since its inception. In 2020, Builder Magazine declared GSH the 8thfastest growing private builder in America. Also in 2020, The State Paper in South Carolina recognized GSH as the state's “Best Builder” for the third consecutive year. Currently, GSH is the nation's 41stranked single-family detached homebuilder, based on 2021 home closings, according to Pro Builder's 2022 Housing Giants Report. GSH closed 1,705 homes in 2021.
Following the closing of the merger, Eric Bland (above right) will serve on the board of directors of UHG.
Bland has been a practicing commercial litigator and corporate attorney since 1988. He is licensed to practice law in South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida. He was selected for inclusion in the South Carolina Super Lawyers in the 2015-2021 list for excellence and recognition as a Super Lawyer in Professional Liability. He was one of two lawyers in the entire State of South Carolina to receive this honor. Eric and his law partner Ronnie Richter have achieved verdicts and/or settlements in excess of $190,000,000.00 on behalf of their clients since 1998. Eric was selected by his peers as one of the top ten most outstanding Business Law and Business Litigation attorneys in the Midlands of the state of South Carolina in many of the past years from 2010 forward including in 2022 and by the Greater Columbia Business Monthly Second Annual Legal Elite of the Midlands.
Mr. Bland has garnered a national reputation for litigating cases which are regularly reported by local and national news media programs and covered by the national press. Over the years, Eric has appeared in over 50 television appearances on Dateline, 20/20, The Today Show, Good Morning America, countless local news shows, Erin Burnett, Fox News, Netflix, documentaries produced by Oprah Winfrey, American Greed, Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon, Nancy Grace, Dr. Drew, Von Hilliard, MSNBC, TMZ, Dr. Phil, Anderson Cooper, Ashleigh Banfield, Court TV and foreign television stations in connection with several highly reported cases where he was the lead attorney. Throughout his career, he has appeared in over 2,000 news articles about pending legal matters in major daily newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York Post, to name a few, as well as People Magazine and other magazines.
