Standard Pacific to Restructure as Partnership

Standard Pacific Corp., the Costa Mesa home builder, said Tuesday that its shareholders had voted overwhelmingly to reorganize into a limited partnership in order to avoid double taxation on corporate profits and company dividends.

The conversion, which has been under active consideration since May, will be completed later this month, according to Arthur E. Svendsen, chairman and chief executive.

Under terms of the conversion, each shareholder will receive one limited partnership unit in exchange for each share of stock. In addition, a special $3-per-unit cash distribution will be made before April 15, 1987, to shareholders of record shortly before that date in order to assist with federal income taxes resulting from the reorganization of the company. Units will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the SPF symbol.

As a corporation, Standard Pacific profits were taxed at the maximum corporate rate of 50% and were then taxed again as personal income after they were distributed to shareholders as dividends. However, in a limited partnership, there is no corporation to tax so distributed profits are larger and are taxed only as personal income of the recipients.

Svendsen said that fewer than 1% of the shares voted against the conversion proposal at a special meeting Monday.