EverBank Looks to Clean Up Amidst Mortgage Mess

EverBank Financial Corp. isn’t waiting for the dust to settle in the mortgage industry’s general collapse — instead, it’s lining up investors and said Tuesday that it’s looking to start shopping. The Jacksonville-based financial services firm said that it had recently closed on a capital investment of approximately $100 million from an affiliate of Sageview Capital LP, a private investment firm tied to two Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. expats. “Sageview’s investment in EverBank will fuel a substantial expansion plan, enabling EverBank to grow our assets by over 30 percent to approximately $8 billion and dramatically expand our direct deposit customer base,” stated Rob Clements, Chairman and CEO of EverBank. “While other banks and financial institutions have needed to raise equity to shore up capital, EverBank has generated record year-to-date earnings and has a strong balance sheet, which will enable us to deploy capital offensively to take advantage of recent market disruptions. Under terms of the investment, Sageview will become the largest stockholder of EverBank Financial Corp. “Sageview focuses on investing in innovative companies with demonstrated track records of success,” stated Scott Stuart, a founding partner of Sageview Capital who will join EverBank’s Board of Directors. So what’s being bought? Pretty much whatever makes sense, Stuart said. “Whether it’s assets or companies, we believe there are and will continue to be attractive opportunities in the financial services industry,” he said. Last week, EverBank announced its 2008 first-half financial results, which included record earnings of $44.7 million — including proceeds from the sale of EverBank Reverse Mortgage LLC to insurance giant MetLife, Inc. — record deposits of $4.1 billion, record bank capital of $402 million and record assets of $6.0 billion. Which really leaves one question unanswered: who’s selling? For more information, visit http://www.everbank.com.