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But don't expect to see the Centex name disappear.
Pulte plans to keep using the Centex and Fox & Jacobs brands on projects across the country.
"We will take the Centex brand and Fox & Jacobs and position it squarely at the first-time buyer," CEO Richard Dugas said before the company's meeting.
The Pulte name will be used for move-up homes, and Pulte's Del Webb division will still build retirement housing.
Pulte hopes to achieve more differentiation of its product lines.
"We have been trying to use our good corporate names but have stretched it too far, where we are not unique to the consumer," Dugas said. "Going forward, we will not overlap" the products in each brand.
"We are not going to confuse the consumer anymore with one name stretching across all categories."
Pulte will focus on unique offerings for each housing brand in 900 subdivisions in the 29 states where it builds.
"We will be the largest homebuilder in the country," Dugas said. "Though frankly, our goal is to not be the largest but the most profitable."
Pulte's $3.1 billion purchase of Centex is part of the plan to make the company more profitable.
The acquisition will expand Pulte's business and eliminates one of its top competitors in the highly fractured U.S. homebuilding business.
"Pulte is going to gain market share through the addition of Centex's brands," said Ted Wilson of Dallas-based housing analyst Residential Strategies. "Pulte already has a D-FW presence through its Pulte and Del Webb brands.
"The absorption of Centex will give it access to Fox & Jacobs and City Homes as well as the Centex Homes label."
About 70 percent of Centex shareholders approved the sale Tuesday, four months after the deal was disclosed. Each share of Centex stock will be exchanged for 0.975 shares of Pulte stock. Pulte shareholders own about 68 percent of the new company.
Big cost savings
The builder also said it expects $350 million in cost savings with the merger and plans to retire up to $1.5 billion in debt.
Eighty percent of Pulte shareholders also voted for the deal on Tuesday morning.
A small group of protesters was outside Centex's Uptown headquarters to dispute the combination of the two firms. They fault Pulte for its construction practices and are critical of Centex for its mortgage defaults.
The merger of two of the country's largest homebuilders comes as the housing industry is suffering its worst downturn in generations.
Home construction is at the lowest level in decades. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, single-family home starts have dropped more than 60 percent since 2007.
Centex and Pulte have been among the top housing producers in North Texas for years. Centex started almost 900 houses in D-FW in 2008, and Pulte had almost 500 starts. That's down sharply from 2006, when the two companies together started more than 4,300 houses here.
Both homebuilders have experienced a long string of quarterly financial losses. Centex eked out a small profit in the quarter ending June 30 because of one-time tax benefits. The company lost $1.4 billion in its most recent fiscal year.
Pulte lost almost $190 million in the second quarter. In 2008, it lost almost $1.5 billion.
Dugas said that although the building industry still faces challenges, he believes the worst of the construction slide is over.
"I think we are very close to the bottom," he said. "We are not likely to see a lot of degradation from here.
"But I am not in the camp that thinks we will have a V-shaped recovery and the market come roaring back."
Moving operations
Because of the merger, most of Centex's corporate operations in the Dallas area will be discontinued or moved to other Pulte offices. Significant layoffs are expected but so far have not been disclosed.
The combined firm will keep an expanded sales and marketing presence in North Texas.
Meshing the two operations will continue into late 2009.
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