Blend Labs filed a confidential draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the first step in taking the company public.
It is a sign that initial public offering fever continues among mortgage-related businesses, despite expectations for originations to slow and the recent news that both AmeriHome and Caliber Home Loans dropped their attempts to go public by merging with other companies. The Caliber deal for now also has put on hold any plans for New Residential Investment to take its NewRez business public.
"The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined," Blend said in a terse press release. "The initial public offering is expected to commence after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions."
Nima Ghamsari is the CEO and co-founder of Blend
Doma and SoFi are among the other mortgage-related businesses currently looking to go public, both of which agreed to merge with special purpose acquisition companies. In addition, now that its own acquisition by China Oceanwide has bit the dust, Genworth wants to go ahead with a public offering of a portion of its U.S. mortgage insurance subsidiary.
And apparently warming up in the bullpen is Better.com, whose $500 million investment from SoftBank Group earlier this month has only increased speculation that the New York-based mortgage banker will go public shortly.
Blend raised $300 million in a Series G round in January from Coatue and Tiger Global Management, giving it a $3.3 billion valuation. Overall, Blend raised $665 million from a total of 30 investors through nine private equity rounds, according to Crunchbase.
In March, Blend agreed to buy the majority interest in Title365 from Mr. Cooper (which retained 9.9%) for $422 million.
The company's management team includes Nima Ghamsari, CEO and co-founder, and Tim Mayopoulos, its president, who is also the former president and CEO of Fannie Mae. The company is now in a quiet period under SEC rules and unable to comment further about the announcement.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said the FICO credit-scoring model has drawbacks in price, predictiveness and market competition, and stakeholders should develop a more open-sourced model that uses artificial intelligence.
Smaller players face challenges when it comes to mortgage servicing rights, and larger ones have varying motivations, experts at an industry meeting say.
The 30-year fixed rate mortgage average resumed its climb that started in September, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury price still reflects views on inflation.
Fannie Mae's latest economic forecast no longer expects mortgage rates to go below 6% next year, and that is affecting its views on loan origination volume.
Amid steady customer growth, USAA's banking arm failed to make the investments necessary to satisfy either its regulators or some decades-long customers. Changes in the executive suite haven't fixed the problems.
