The transition of The J.G. Wentworth Company (JGW) into a mortgage lender is now complete.
In March, J.G. Wentworth, the purchaser of structured settlement payments, annuity payments, lottery payments and other receivables that rose to fame with the “It’s my money and I want it now” advertising campaign, announced its intention to acquire WestStar Mortgage, a privately-held residential mortgage company specializing in conforming mortgage lending.
According to a release from the companies, the acquisition is now complete.
The final purchase price was $53.2 million in cash and $13.5 million in J.G. Wentworth shares, for a total purchase price of $66.7 million.
WestStar is based in Woodbridge, Virginia, and is licensed to operate in 40 states. The company was founded in 2000 and currently has more than 300 employees spread over 15 states.
With the deal finalized, WestStar will now operate as J.G. Wentworth Home Lending, a newly-rebranded division in the J.G. Wentworth family of brands.
The addition of WestStar’s 300 employees will nearly double J.G. Wentworth’s workforce.
“Diversification to deliver ‘Cash Now’ is a fundamental part of our strategy for growth,” said Stewart Stockdale, chief executive officer, J.G. Wentworth.
“The acquisition of WestStar is strong evidence of this strategy in action,” Stockdale contined. “Together with our structured settlement payment purchasing business and other key initiatives, we are delivering financial products and solutions that allow our customers access to funds that will help them achieve their goals.”
Stockdale said that J.G. Wentworth is excited to welcome the WestStar team to the company.
In 2014, WestStar closed $1.5 billion of new loan originations, and the company sold or securitized approximately half of the loans it originated to government-backed organizations and half to third-party institutional investors in the secondary market, the companies said in an earlier release.
WestStar’s executive vice president, Roger Jones, will serve as president of the J.G. Wentworth Home Lending division.
“The team at WestStar is excited to join an established direct-to-consumer leader like J.G. Wentworth, and we look forward to bringing a new suite of product solutions to J.G. Wentworth’s established and growing customer base,” Jones said.
