Mobile Home Park Developer Merges with Maker of Units

Santiago Corp., a Santa Ana-based mobile home park developer, says it has completed a long-anticipated merger with Silvercrest Industries, a Corona-based mobile home manufacturer.

The merger lifted Silvercrest out of a money-losing position, according to a restatement of financial figures that Silvercrest released earlier this week to reflect a pooling of both companies’ operations.

Silvercrest on its own posted a $459,000 loss in its second fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with net income of $176,000 when Santiago’s profit for the period was added in. Before the merger, Silvercrest sustained a $451,000 loss for the first half of its 1986 fiscal year, compared with a $112,000 net gain on a consolidated basis for the same six months after the merger.

Silvercrest’s second quarter net sales without Santiago’s input were $11.6 million, compared with $12.2 million for the combined companies. Sales for the first half of the year were $26.4 million before the merger and $27.4 million afterwards.

Gary King, Silvercrest’s chief financial officer, said that Santiago is expected to help Silvercrest sell mobile homes by providing spaces where the homes can be installed. He said that there is a severe shortage of available rental spaces throughout the state.

King said that Santiago is developing Santiago Estates, a 380-acre park with 800 spaces in the San Fernando Valley, as well as a 134-space park in Corona and two more parks in Vista and Riverside with a total of 176 spaces, half of which are already full.

In the last three months, King said, both Santiago and Silvercrest have been “streamlining” their operations in anticipation of the merger. He said that 10 staff members have been laid off in the process, leaving a combined staff of 650 workers.