National appraisal management company (AMC) Class Valuation, which includes reverse mortgage appraisal services as a part of its full product suite, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Kansas City, Mo.-based Pendo Management, LLC. Terms for the deal were not disclosed. The announcement was made by Gridiron Capital, an investment firm which acquired Class Valuation earlier this year.
Described as a company which offers a “differentiated appraisal process” through the use of client success teams and across a variety of coverage markets, Pendo currently has more than 150 customers across the United States and primarily uses information technology (IT) developed in-house, which is proprietary. The acquisition is expected to bolster Class Valuation’s coverage areas in the Midwest and surrounding rural markets, which will also help to establish new appraiser relationships in those areas, according to the announcement of the deal.
“I am proud of Pendo’s journey and the success this team has helped build. Looking forward, I am excited for the vast opportunities this partnership brings for our team and our clients,” said Mike Peck, CEO and co-founder of Pendo Management. “I am 100% confident that our customers will continue to receive the exceptional attention, quality and service that they expect from Pendo in our new partnership with Class Valuation. Our services will strengthen further as we leverage Class’ scale, resources, technology and innovation platform — we are excited to be part of the future of our industry.”
The technology component is also something which Class is eager to incorporate into its existing operations, according to company CEO John Fraas.
“We are excited to welcome the Pendo team to the Class Valuation family. Along with a strong cultural fit, we are aligned in our approach to provide our client partners with unparalleled quality and service,” he said. “Combining Pendo’s and Class Valuation’s core capabilities, tech-enabled workflows and complementary areas of expertise will bring superior service to all of our customers.”
This past April, Class was first acquired by Gridiron Capital, which saw the company’s previous owner transition into holding a minority stake in the AMC. Under the terms of that acquisition, no material impacts on the company’s operations in the reverse mortgage industry were expected to occur, according to a company spokesperson at the time.
Class also recently made another AMC acquisition earlier this year, Greenville, S.C.-based AMC SouthEastern Evaluation (SEE) in an effort to increase the company’s market share for AMC services in the southeastern United States. Last month, the company also appointed a new executive to serve as its Chief Technology Officer.
In late 2018, Class acquired Van Nuys, Calif.-based Landmark Network, which was a real estate appraisal firm with a leadership position in the reverse mortgage space. That was one of the elements of the business that interested Class at the time.
