Mortgage servicer Nationstar posted a first-quarter profit of $62.6 million and announced the strategic acquisition of the Greenlight Financial Services mortgage origination business.
The move shows the servicing giant modeling other larger firms in the mortgage space by buffering its servicing business with an originations platform.
Nationstar (NSM) acquired Greenlight Financial Services for $75 million in cash and expects to close on the deal in the second quarter.
Irvine, Calif.-based Greenlight specializes in a rapid turn time funding model and conducts outreach through TV, radio and media, Nationstar said.
“The acquisition will further diversify Nationstar’s origination channels and add a low-cost, profitable source for servicing asset creation, while also providing additional capacity for HARP and recapture loans,” Nationstar wrote in its earnings statement.
Greenlight is expected to originate more than $8 billion in loans annually and currently has 700 employees.
The news came as Nationstar reported a first-quarter profit of $62.6 million, or 70 cents a share, down a notch from $63.8 million, or 71 cents a share in the fourth quarter. Compared to year ago levels, the firm’s profit is up from $50.2 million, or 67 cents a share, in 1Q of 2012.
The company, which has been strategically acquiring mortgage servicing rights for well over a year, saw its servicing portfolio increase 50% to $312 billion in unpaid principal balance, up from $208 billion in the fourth quarter.
Overall, the company’s servicing portfolio unpaid principal balance is up 203% from a year ago when it was valued at $103 billion.
In April, Nationstar closed on a $22 billion agency servicing portfolio and anticipates the closing of the Bank of America PLS portfolios in the second quarter.
Nationstar’s servicing portfolio ended the quarter with an unpaid principal balance of $312 billion and a pro forma UPD of $435 billion.
