M&A

Mortgage M&A activity in 2024, 2023 and 2022: a list

As the mortgage industry wound down from explosive origination volume seen in 2020 and 2021, consolidation activity has ramped up.

Thus far, two groups of industry stakeholders are emerging: those that have enough capital and see the depressed market as an opportune time to grow market share and companies that can no longer stay afloat.

As a result, merger and acquisition activity ticked up. In 2022, 42 transactions closing during 2022 eclipsed the previous record of 33 deals of this kind in 2018, according to consulting firm Stratmor Group. The consultancy predicted 60 transactions in 2023, most of which would be between nonbank lenders.

So far, deals have been struck in all sectors of the industry, with brokerages, lenders and servicers merging or scooping up competitors.

Stakeholders in the industry looking to acquire others keep an eye out for similar cultures and whether a company dominates in a particular region that the stakeholder is trying to expand into.

David Hrobon, principal at Stratmor, explained that "each deal is unique but there are some generalities relative to the nonbank buyer motivations" such as larger IMB's frequently having "lower borrowing costs and better secondary market execution than their smaller peers." 

"For most [lenders], market share growth is simply calculated by product of the acquisition.  Their primary motivation is to add loan volume (scale) that will help them offset their fixed expenses and return to an acceptable level of profitability," he said.

NONBANKS

American Pacific Mortgage acquires Lend Smart Mortgage, LLC

Date announced: January 26, 2023

California-based American Pacific Mortgage continues to expand its market footprint with an asset purchase of Lend Smart Mortgage, LLC. Minnesota-based Lend Smart Mortgage has close to 30 branches nationwide, with its presence mainly stretching across the midwest. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to APM's spokeswoman, 27 branches will be brought on board, with 107 loan officers in total.

Read more here.

American Pacific Mortgage acquires Arizona-based Sunstreet Mortgage

Date announced: July 2022

American Pacific Mortgage acquired Arizona-based Sunstreet Mortgage sometime in July 2022. The retail lender, which offers FHA, VA and USDA loans, was integrated as a division inside of APM.

AnnieMac acquires Family First Funding

Date announced: March 2023

AnnieMac Home Mortgage, a Mount Laurel, N.J.-based nonbank lender, moved to acquire Family First Funding of Tomas River. Though requests for confirmation were not returned, a check of the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry entry for American Neighborhood Mortgage Acceptance Company, the legal name of AnnieMac lists Family First as a division of the company.Reportedly Family First was having liquidity issues, which led to the sale.

Read more here.

AnnieMac buys OVM Financial

Date announced: July 1, 2022

AnnieMac Home Mortgage, a nationwide lender based in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, expanded its mid-Atlantic reach with the acquisition of OVM Financial. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. OVM is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia and has branches in that state and in Florida, North Carolina and Texas, with 220 employees total. It has been rebranded as OVM Financial Team Powered By AnnieMac Home Mortgage.

Read more here.

CMG Mortgage acquires Homebridge's retail division

Date announced: March 7, 2023

CMG Mortgage has purchased the retail origination business of Homebridge Financial Services for an undisclosed sum in a transaction involving two of the larger independent mortgage bankers making moves during a busy merger and acquisition period. The deal brings Homebridge's more than 180 retail branches nationwide to CMG. Homebridge will retain its two wholesale divisions, Homebridge Wholesale and REMN Wholesale; CMG has its own correspondent, retail and wholesale channels.

Read more here.

CMG Mortgage buys Norcom Mortgage's retail division

Date announced: April 2024

CMG Mortgage is purchasing Norcom Mortgage's retail division for an undisclosed amount.

Phil DeFronzo, founder of Connecticut-based Norcom Mortgage, confirmed the news, noting the company made the "strategic decision to focus on [its] wholesale channel TPO GO."

Norcom, a family-owned company founded in 1989 is licensed to operate in at least 30 states and has almost 200 sponsored loan officers, according to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System.

Read more here.

Finance of America acquires American Advisors Group

Date announced: December 7, 2022

Finance of America has agreed to acquire the assets of the product's No. 1 originator, American Advisors Group, for $10 million in cash. The transaction also has an equity component as AAG's owners, including founder and CEO Reza Jahangiri, received one share of Finance of America's class B non-publicly traded common stock (of which 15 shares total are outstanding) and the rights to purchase up to almost 33.9 million shares of class.

"By complementing [our] innovation, thought leadership, and wholesale channel success with AAG's unmatched investments in consumer awareness, we are strengthening a movement to change society's retirement trajectory for the better," Finance of America Reverse President Kristen Sieffert said in an emailed statement.

Read more here.

GO Mortgage and PacRes announce merger

Date announced: May 31, 2024

GO Mortgage and PacRes Mortgage are set to merge by the end of September.

The deal will give both lenders access to new regions of the country and help drive down the cost to originate loans, a press release Friday said. 

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024, after which Michael Isaacs, the CEO of GO Mortgage, will take the helm of the combined company. The cost of the deal was not disclosed.

GO Mortgage, an Ohio-based lender, has a larger footprint on the East Coast, while Oregon-based PacRes Mortgage is active in the Pacific Northwest region.

Read more here.

Guaranteed Rate acquires remaining stake in Premia

Date announced: July 3, 2023

Guaranteed Rate, the Chicago-based privately held mortgage lender, bought out Serva, its joint venture partner, to acquire the remaining interest in specialty originator Premia Relocation Mortgage.

Details about the Guaranteed Rate transaction were not immediately available, including price and how much of Premia did Serva own prior to the sale.

Premia will keep its name and business focus of working with relocation services companies as well as directly with businesses that relocate workers on a regular basis.

Read more here.

Guild Mortgage acquires Academy Mortgage

Date announced: Feb. 13, 2024

Guild Mortgage bought Utah-based Academy Mortgage, continuing its acquisition streak that ramped up in late 2022.

The terms of the acquisition haven't been made publicly available.  Guild's CEO Terry Schmidt said the two companies have "aligned core values [to] attract employees dedicated to serving their communities and delivering on the promise of homeownership."

The addition of Academy will make Guild the eighth largest non-bank lender in the country and will add 25% more origination volume to the lender's books, the company claims in a press release.

For Guild, this is at least the fifth major acquisition since the end of 2022. Company executives have hinted that their appetite to further expand Guild's footprint remains strong.

Read more here.

Guild Mortgage acquires Cherry Creek Mortgage

Date announced: March 14, 2023

Guild Mortgage is purchasing Cherry Creek Mortgage, making this the third acquisition by the San Diego-based public company in the span of four months. The privately held lender, which has 68 branches covering 45 states, will help to expand Guild's footprint into reverse mortgage lending. Cherry Creek has been a long-time player in the reverse mortgage business. For the trailing 12 months ended February, it was the nation's 10th most active originator of home equity conversion mortgages, according to Reverse Mortgage Insight. Cherry Creek's branches will become their own division within Guild and will be headed by its former CEO Jeff May who ran the company for 36 years. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Read more here.

Guild Mortgage buys Legacy Mortgage

Date announced February 8, 2023

Guild has purchased Legacy Mortgage, a small residential lender and servicer, in line with its goal to build market share through acquisitions and add to its holdings in the Southwest. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Legacy is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and has 13 branches in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

Read more here.

Guild Mortgage to purchase Inlanta Mortgage

Date announced: December 2, 2022

San Diego-based Guild Mortgage acquired Inlanta Mortgage. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"In joining Guild, we can offer our Midwest borrowers a broader array of loan options and access to new digital and customer relationship tools to improve every step in the lending experience, including servicing, a Guild strength," said Inlanta founder John Knowlton in a release. "Our combined resources and customer service cultures will drive future growth throughout the region."

On Nov. 29, Inlanta sent a letter to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development disclosing the termination of 62 employees, starting that day and lasting through the wind-down of operations expected in early April 2023.

Read more here.

Lower onboards Premier Nationwide Lending's branches

Date announced: December 2023

Lower brought onboard Premier Nationwide Lending's branches in December, around the same time it announced the acquisition of Thrive Mortgage

Premier employees ranging from loan officers to branch managers made the transition to Lower that month and throughout January, per the National Mortgage Licensing System. 

The actual number of employees that went over to Lower hasn't been confirmed. As of October 2023, Premier had about 151 employees in total. 

According to one former branch manager, the parent company of Premier, NTFN Inc., shuttered. Then the mortgage lender's branches were brought on board by Lower. 

Read more here.

Lower and Thrive strike merger deal

Date announced: December 2023

National multichannel lender Lower will acquire Thrive Mortgage in the second merger deal for the Columbus, Ohio-based company over the past two months.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, with the deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2024. Per terms of the agreement, Thrive Mortgage's current CEO Selene Kellam and chief production officer Randell Gillespie, will join the Lower executive team, reporting to its head, Dan Snyder.

The partnership between Georgetown, Texas-based Thrive and Lower combines two lenders with similar volumes of production. In the past year, Thrive originated close to $1.42 billion worth of loans, while Lower produced $1.88 million according to data from Modex. 

Read more here.

Lower acquires Universal Lending Home Loans' retail, wholesale channels

Date announced: Nov. 1, 2023

Columbus, Ohio-based Lower announced the addition of Universal Lending as a new division within its family of companies. Both retail and wholesale channels of Denver-based Universal will move over to Lower and continue to be led by President TJ Kennedy.

Read more here.

Marlin Mortgage Holdings purchases LoanFront

Date announced: October 21, 2022

Marlin Mortgage Holdings, an owner of mortgage servicing rights, has agreed to purchase direct-to-consumer lender LoanFront. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

"The LoanFront acquisition serves a few strategic milestones: adding internal capabilities for retention efforts of the approximate 130,000 existing Marlin borrowers and access to an existing platform to assist in our planned expansion into Ginnie Mae mortgage servicing rights," said Andrew Weber, Marlin Mortgage CEO, in a press release.

Read more here.

Movement Mortgage acquires New England-based Mortgage Network

Date announced: November 11, 2022

National retail lender and servicer Movement Mortgage reached an agreement to purchase New England-based Mortgage Network. With this deal, Movement adds over 30 Mortgage Network branches in 12 Eastern states to the company. Headquartered in Danvers, Massachusetts, Mortgage Network is licensed in 27 states. Movement plans to retain Mortgage Network's personnel and incorporate that business with its own retail operations. The move is expected to add $2 billion in mortgage volume annually. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Read more here.

Prosperity Home Mortgage buys JFQ Lending

Date announced: February 28, 2023

Prosperity Home Mortgage, a lender under the massive Berkshire Hathaway real estate umbrella, has acquired direct-to-consumer business JFQ Lending, it announced in February. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. JFQ Lending will operate Prosperity's Consumer Direct Division at its call center in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Chantilly, Virginia-based Prosperity counted $25 billion in production from over 500 mortgage consultants between 2021 and 2022, it said. The lender funded $8.5 billion in volume between January and October of last year, according to S&P Global data. 

Read more here.

Thrive Mortgage picks up American Mortgage Service Co.

Date announced: September 27, 2022

Thrive Mortgage struck a deal to acquire American Mortgage Service Co.Georgetown, Texas-based Thrive, a lender licensed in 40 states, reached an agreement with AMSC that will expand its presence within the Midwest and South and add over 200 employees to its team. "We've already been licensed in all the states they are, but they've got a brick-and-mortar presence, and that's what adds to our network," said Randell Gillespie, Thrive Mortgage's executive vice president, national sales manager, in an interview. The combined loan production volume across all channels for the two companies is expected to approach $3.6 billion by the end of 2022, Gillespie said.

Read more here.

Union Home Mortgage nabs Amerifirst Home Mortgage

Date announced: December 22, 2022

Union Home Mortgage acquired Amerifirst Home Mortgage. UHM and Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Amerifirst share some similarities: both companies are primarily focused on the USDA market and both have been in the mortgage business for more than two decades. Their union will allow UHM to expand its national reach to markets in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and California.

"Our company lives by the mantra of 'Promises Kept,' which includes promises to our customers, communities and colleague partners. Today, I am thrilled to expand the reach of that promise further," said Bill Cosgrove, CEO of Union Home Mortgage, in a written statement.

Read more here.

Mountain West Financial sells retail division to ML Mortgage

Date announced: May 2, 2024

Mountain West Financial, a Redlands, California-based shop founded more than 30 years ago, sold its retail assets to ML Mortgage Corp. for an undisclosed amount.

According to Mike Delehanty, the CEO of the company, ML Mortgage will acquire "the branches and loan officers of Mountain West." 

"We tried very hard to make the business profitable, but the structure of the company would not allow for it in this market," wrote Delehanty Thursday. "We are now looking at different opportunities for the future. It was very difficult to make this decision which has affected so many people who worked here for a very long time."

Read more here.

Mr. Cooper acquires Home Point Capital

Date announced: May 11, 2023

Mr. Cooper announced plans to dish out $324 million to acquire Home Point's $84 billion servicing portfolio, close to $1.1 billion of conventional MSRs, roughly $600 million in tangible equity and $500 million in outstanding 5% senior notes. Following the close of the transaction, Home Point will officially wind down operations.

The overall valuation being paid for Home Point "appears low" BTIG said in a report, though the financial services firm noted that the lender's "leverage and challenging growth outlook were factors which weighed on its valuation."

Read more here.

Mr. Cooper to buy Roosevelt Management, Rushmore

Date announced: Feb 10, 2023

Mr. Cooper plans to buy an investor in mortgage-related assets and a special servicer in order to brace itself for a potential credit-cycle shift. The mortgage company plans to close on the purchase of Roosevelt Management Co., a registered investment advisory, and its sister company, Rushmore, by mid-year. Roosevelt invests in whole loans and mortgage servicing rights.

Read more here.

New American Funding acquires Draper and Kramer Mortgage Corp.

Date announced: Feb. 1, 2024

New American Funding signed a letter of intent to buy the single-family mortgage financing operations and staff from Chicago-based property and financial services firm Draper and Kramer.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

NAF's CEO Rick Arvielo said the aim of the transaction is less about increased production but rather geographic reach.

"We have this patchwork of geographies we have an opportunity to fill now," he added, noting that Draper and Kramer's single-family assets will help the Southwest-based New American Funding establish more operations on the East Coast and other regions.

Read more here.

Planet Home Lending acquires Platinum Home Mortgage Corp.

Date announced: June 1, 2023

Planet Home Lending bought Platinum Home Mortgage Corp., in a bid to expand its presence in Western markets.

As part of the deal, Planet Home Lending will bring on board most of Platinum's production personnel and a network of 20 retail offices. The price tag of the transaction was not disclosed.

Platinum President and CEO Lee Gross will join Planet as part of the transaction. Gross will be a senior vice president at Planet and oversee the Platinum team.

Read more here.

TECHNOLOGY

Accurate Group buys Voxtur Analytics

Date announced: Nov. 1, 2023

Accurate Group, which dubs itself as a technology-driven appraisal management and title services company, acquired Voxtur Analytics, an appraisal management company (AMC).

The former Voxtur unit will operate as a standalone division within the Cleveland-based technology company and include its current team and leadership, Accurate said. 

Read more here

CoreLogic purchases Roostify

Date announced: February 22, 2023

CoreLogic, the real estate data and software provider, acquired point-of-sale platform Roostify, an addition that will give it capabilities to directly assist lenders at the beginning of a digital loan process. The move allows the Irvine, California-based CoreLogic to share business intelligence with mortgage companies in the first stages of borrowing, thereby ideally helping them identify errors early.

Calling the deal an important transaction for the mortgage industry, Roostify Co-Founder and CEO Rajesh Bhat said the combined company "allows us to accelerate the journey towards a truly data driven digital origination experience in one single platform."

Read more here

Homebot acquires Quo Finance

Date announced: March 21, 2023

Homebot, a finance portal designed to facilitate ongoing communication between customers and lenders, acquired Menlo Park-California-based Quo Finance, a mobile app that provides financial guidance for first-time home buyers. The partnership merges both platforms together and will expand Homebot's database of users, potentially increasing return business for real estate agents and lenders that use the Colorado-based company's product. Details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Read more here.

HomeLight buys cash-offer fintech Accept.inc

Date announced: June 16, 2022

HomeLight agreed to acquire Accept.inc, a fintech lender specializing in cash-offer equivalent products. The acquiring company, a real estate technology firm with a pre-existing cash-offer financing operation, did not disclose the exact terms of the all-stock deal. The majority of the Accept.inc team will take on new roles within HomeLight as the two operations are combined, HomeLight CEO Drew Uher said in an emailed response to questions.

Read more here.

Intercontinental Exchange initiates process to purchase Black Knight

Date announced: May 4, 2022

Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the mortgage industry's most widely used loan origination system, announced that it is buying Black Knight, which has a similar market penetration on the servicing side. Intercontinental Exchange expects cost synergies of $200 million after the deal is completed. The first one-third will be realized in the first year, the next two-thirds by year three, and full synergies in five years. Investor questions linger around antitrust challenges, but John Campbell, an analyst at Stephens believes that the deal could get through a Hart-Scott-Rodino regulatory review.

Read here for more.

Maxwell takes on LenderSelect Mortgage

Date announced: May 16, 2023

Mortgage fintech Maxwell announced the acquisition of LenderSelect Mortgage Group, a subsidiary of Blue Ridge Bank. The purchase grows market share for the Denver-based provider of mortgage technology to credit unions and community banks, adding LenderSelect's 180-plus business customers, located primarily in the Eastern United States, The transaction will also further growth of the Maxwell Capital secondary market trading platform.

"The acquisition of LenderSelect will combine the power of our tech-enabled solutions with the effectiveness of their secondary market solution, to expand our integrated platform to hundreds more of these financial institutions," Maxwell CEO John Paasonen said in a press release. 

Current LenderSelect CEO Tracy Marks will lead the Maxwell Capital business upon deal close, holding the same chief executive officer title. 

Founded in 2022, Maxwell has raised $79.4 billion in capital funding, according to Crunchbase. With the addition of LenderSelect, Maxwell will serve over 400 lenders across the country.

MeridianLink to take on OpenClose

Date announced: November 10, 2022

MeridianLink reported in an earnings call in November that it bought mortgage technology platform OpenClose for $65 million. The acquiring company, which provides cloud-based software to financial institutions, found buying the point of sale technology attractive because the move extends its reach in mortgage software. The acquisition specifically adds more banks to the customer base for the company's mortgage lending technology, Chris Maloof, president in the company's Go-to-Market division said.

Read more here.

Mortgage Coach and Sales Boomerang merge

Date announced: June 28, 2022

Mortgage Coach and Sales Boomerang, two companies that help loan officers increase sales, have merged five months after both companies received an investment from LLR Partners.LLR Partners, which invested $80 million in January in both companies, had a controlling stake in each firm at the time of the mergers. Specific terms of the deal, including respective valuations and contributions to revenue, are not being disclosed.

Read more here.

Opteon acquires Northeastern Appraisal Associates Residential

Date announced: July 5, 2022

Opteon, an international property valuation firm, completed its fourth transaction in the last year with the acquisition of Buffalo, New York-based Northeastern Appraisal Associates Residential, an appraisal management company and staff appraisal firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in Australia in 2005, Opteon developed technology that decreased turn times and valuation report revision rates. It was offering valuation and property services in Australia and New Zealand before entering the U.S. market in 2019 with the acquisition of Apex Appraisal Service.

Read more here.

Stavvy and Brace merge

Date announced: August, 1, 2023

Digital software provider Stavvy has agreed to acquire fellow mortgage technology startup Brace in a deal that will boost servicing capabilities the Boston-based fintech can provide.

The deal brings together two alums of Flagstar Bank's MortgageTech Accelerator program. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

"Stavvy's vision of streamlining real estate transactions aligns seamlessly with Brace's unwavering dedication to tackle the inefficiencies and foster transparency within the mortgage industry," said Brace CEO Eric Rachmel."

Read more here.

Zillow Group acquires CRM system

Date announced: November 1, 2023

Zillow Group announced it is in the process of purchasing a real estate customer relationship management (CRM) system.

The software company being acquired is San Francisco-based Follow Up Boss. Zillow will dish out $400 million upfront for the company and up to $100 million in a potential cash earnout, it said. 

Follow Up Boss will remain an independent brand and will continue to build its client base as a standalone product. Being integrated into Zillow will allow the software company to "invest further in improving its product offerings, helping their clients deliver the best possible customer experience," a press release stated.

Read more here.

TECH COMPANIES BUYING NONBANKS

JZZ Technologies buys Oxygen Mortgage

Date announced: March 1, 2023

JZZ Technologies, a small publicly traded technology company, is in the process of acquiring Colorado-based Oxygen Mortgage. The deal closes in 60 days and the price tag for the acquisition is a "low seven-figure number," according to Robert Egeland, CEO of Oxygen Mortgage. The New York-based tech company is looking to expand into real estate and Egeland will lead its real estate division. Originally, the two companies planned to partner up on a joint venture, however, after some discussion an acquisition made more sense, they said.

Read more here.

SoFi Technologies obtains Wyndham Capital Mortgage

Date announced: April 3, 2023

San Francisco-based SoFi Technologies announced the acquisition of Wyndham Capital Mortgage. The neobank purchased the Charlotte, North Carolina-based fintech mortgage lender in an all-cash transaction. Further specifics were not disclosed. The addition of Wyndham Capital will expand the neobank's suite of mortgage products and improve its business units' economies of scale, SoFi said in a press release.

Read more here.

BROKERAGES

Prevu buys mortgage technology assets of Reali

Date announced: October 27, 2022

Prevu, a technology-focused real-estate brokerage, has acquired the mortgage assets of recently defunct Reali, as it signals its intent to add lending services on its platform. The transaction, which closed on Oct. 14, transfers the technology and intellectual property rights previously belonging to Reali Loans, the mortgage arm of Reali. The company offered buy-before-you-sell and all-cash payment services to homeowners, but abruptly announced its closure in August, citing depressed market conditions, as well as the challenging capital-raising environment. Reali is also seeking to sell its title and escrow and power-buying assets.

"Real estate brokerage and mortgage are colliding, as there is a developing super cycle of vertically integrated offerings for consumers," said Prevu Co-Founder and Co-CEO Chase Marsh in a press release.

Read more here.

INSURANCE COMPANIES

Doma to sell to Title Resources Group for $85M

Date announced: April 1, 2024

Doma, which went public in 2021 with hopes of not just taking on the big four title underwriters but expanding into other real estate transaction-related businesses, is ending its run, selling itself to privately held Title Resources Group for $6.29 per share.

Doma's underwriting operations, and its technology division, which is likely to be renamed Doma Technology LLC, or Doma TechCo for short, are expected to operate as subsidiaries of TRG.

The most recent data on title insurer market share, from the American Land Title Association, which is covering the third quarter of 2023, showed TRG ranked eighth at 2.9% and Doma tenth with a 1.8% share.  The deal is valued at almost $85 million.

Read more here.

Essent Group buys Incenter’s title insurance business

Date announced: February 23, 2023

Essent Group agreed to purchase the title insurance subsidiaries of Finance of America's Incenter business for $100 million.

"Title insurance is a natural complement to our MI business with relatively low and stable loss ratios historically," said Mark Casale, Essent's chairman and CEO, in a press release. "The acquisitions add a team of seasoned title professionals to Essent and provide a platform to leverage our capital position, lender network and operational expertise across an adjacent real estate sector as we continue to expand our franchise."

Read more here.

Guild Mortgage adds insurance company to its roster

Date announced: March 18, 2024

Guild acquired Waterton Insurance, a provider of home insurance solutions in 45 states, the mega lender wrote in a press release.

Though Guild has revealed little about its plans for Waterton Insurance, David Neylan, chief operating officer at Guild, said the company made the purchase as a means to "enable a convenient insurance shopping experience for mortgage customers."

Read more here.

Mutual of Omaha buys Keller Mortgage assets

Date announced: February 21, 2023

Insurance company Mutual of Omaha has purchased Keller Mortgage's assets in a deal that will allow the real-estate firm's lending unit to continue to operate and serve customers of both companies, according to a press release. Financial terms of the transaction were undisclosed. While Mutual of Omaha now owns all KM's assets, the Keller Mortgage entity itself, which has been through a series of layoffs, will be co-owned by both companies. The lending units will continue to operate alongside each other.

Read more here.

Old Republic sells remaining MI business to Arch

Date announced: Nov. 13, 2023

In selling the remainder of its mortgage insurance line to Arch Capital Group, Old Republic International removes any possibility that this zombie business could be revived.

On at least three separate occasions, the most recent in 2017, Old Republic has considered starting to write new policies again out of the unit, which had been in run-off status since September 2011.

Arch will pay approximately $140 million for all of the capital stock of RMIC Cos. and its wholly owned subsidiaries that make up the run-off business.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2024.

Read more here.

REITS

Ellington Financial strikes deal to buy Great Ajax

Date announced:
Date announced: July 05, 2023

Ellington Financial is set to acquire fellow real estate investment trust Great Ajax for an undisclosed amount.

The proposed transaction will add a "significant portfolio of strategic assets" for Ellington, including over $1 billion of highly creditworthy first-lien residential RPL and NPL investments, Laurence Penn, Ellington's CEO, said.

Most of the RPLs and NPLs were financed through term, non-mark-to-market, non-recourse securitizations, which reduces volatility.

Read more here.

Terra Property Trust proposes merger with Western Asset Mortgage Capital

Date announced: June 2023

Terra Property Trust and Western Asset Mortgage Capital announced merger plans in June. The transaction was set to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.

However, since then, AG Mortgage Investment Trust has come into the fold with a competing offer to acquire WMC.

With both offers on the table, it remains to be seen what Western Asset Mortgage Capital will opt for.

Read more here.

OTHER

Stratmor and Teraverde merge

Date announced: May 17, 2024

Mortgage advisory firms Stratmor Group and Teraverde have agreed to merge, combining services as lending businesses continue to endure a slow market.

The newly merged businesses will soon transition to a single Stratmor brand over the coming months. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The company will integrate consulting services of the two firms that span from sales and marketing to finance and technology. Stratmor currently advises more than 250 companies as clients on a range of business and digital strategies leading to profitability, tapping into its proprietary data sources.

Digital-lending focused Teraverde, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, regularly works with its clients on developing best practices to optimize their technology stacks.

Read more here.
Update
June 17, 2024 12:17 PM EDT
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