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.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a proposed version of the consent order on Jan. 17 and the company involved said it was finalized that day.
Bright Financial denied the allegations that the company and its affiliates paid kickbacks to real estate brokers and agents in exchange for referrals.
President Trump reinstated a revised executive order from his first term that would make it easier for the White House to remove policy-facing federal employees — including Senior Executive Service employees. The National Treasury Employees Union sued the White House in response.
Mortgage companies are looking for ways to open up credit to more borrowers, but insurance-cost spikes have made a difficult situation more challenging.
