Standard Pacific L.P. Schedules 2-for-1 Split of Its Units

Standard Pacific L.P., which last December converted to a limited partnership, said it plans a 2-for-1 split of its publicly traded units on May 6.

The Costa Mesa construction company, whose units are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, said the additional units will be distributed to investors who hold units at the close of business on April 17.

The split is being made to “broaden the base of the public trading market,” Standard Pacific said. After the split becomes effective, there will be 26.8 million units outstanding, said Robert J. St. Lawrence, a company spokesman.

Standard Pacific also said it has decided to distribute approximately 65% of its annual net earnings in quarterly payments to its unit holders. St. Lawrence said the first payment is planned for next month, with subsequent payments in August, November and February.

Although St. Lawrence declined to say how much Standard Pacific expects to earn during the current year, he said Wall Street analysts are projecting pretax earnings of between $57.6 million and $69.7 million. That compares to pretax earnings of $48.5 million in 1986.

Limited partnerships are similar to public companies in that their units may be publicly traded. However, unlike public companies, the partnerships distribute net earnings evenly among their unit holders.

As a limited partnership, Standard Pacific avoids paying corporate income taxes by passing its earnings on to the unit holders, whose gains from the company are taxed as personal income.