Real estate finance advisory services and technology provider Situs has purchased The Collingwood Group, a Washington advisory group staffed largely by former government mortgage agency officials.
"The acquisition expands our professional service offering beyond the commercial real estate sector, providing residential housing expertise and advice to manage complex credit risks and address continuing regulatory challenges," said Situs CEO Steve Powel in a press release.
"Further, the Collingwood team provides a presence in Washington, D.C., to better serve our existing [government-sponsored enterprise] relationships."
Collingwood partners include former Federal Housing Administration Commissioner Brian Montgomery. Other partners are former executives from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Department of Veterans Affairs' home loan program.
Chairman Tim Rood previously was a director at Fannie Mae focused on strategy and business development, and President Brian O'Reilly also was a director at Fannie. O'Reilly focused on automated underwriting and risk management while working for the government-sponsored enterprise.
"Joining Situs enables us to also provide fulfillment services to our clients, and offer these clients the same level of industry expertise in the commercial real estate sector," O'Reilly said in a press release.
Situs previously had ties to entities respectively owned by Lew Ranieri, a pioneer in the mortgage-backed securities market, and Wilbur Ross, who is currently the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Stone Point Capital, a private equity firm in Greenwich, Conn.,
In addition to being active in the U.S. market, Situs has global operations that include a nonperforming loan special servicer in Germany it acquired from Merrill Lynch and Ocwen in 2009.
