San Diego, Calif.-based Synergy One Lending, which formerly included reverse mortgage lender Retirement Funding Solutions (RFS), announced this week the management-led asset purchase (MBO) of the company’s distributed retail channel and the Synergy One brand from Mutual of Omaha Mortgage.
Led by Synergy One CEO Steve Majerus and President Aaron Nemec, company leadership expressed significant optimism for the future of Synergy One in a press release announcing the purchase. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Aaron and I are sincerely grateful for the opportunity to lead Synergy One into the future. Our confidence in our team and our collective ability to execute couldn’t be higher,” Majerus said.
The sale will also allow the company to align the company more closely with a goal of focusing on fintech, according to Nemec.
“This acquisition enables us to more aggressively pursue our pipeline of opportunities and to continue to evolve our operational and sales platforms in building a fintech-enabled company that aligns our team with the experience our customers demand,” Nemec said.
The reverse mortgage business formerly owned by Synergy One is now a subsidiary of the Mutual of Omaha insurance company, and has been folded into the larger organizational structure of Mutual of Omaha Mortgage. Last November, the Retirement Funding Solutions (RFS) brand name associated with Synergy One’s reverse mortgage lending arm was retired in favor of the Mutual of Omaha Mortgage name.
Last summer, it was announced that Mutual of Omaha Bank will be acquired by Pasadena, Calif.-based CIT Bank in a deal valued at $1 billion, but that merger will not include mortgage arm Synergy One Lending which includes the former RFS. As part of the pending acquisition, the ownership of Synergy One Lending will shift to Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co., according to a company announcement.
RFS was first established in 2015 as a subsidiary of Synergy One Lending by Torrey Larsen, who previously served as head of Security One’s retail lending division, and served as company president prior to Security One being acquired by Walter Investment Management Corp. in 2013. Mutual of Omaha first announced its purchase of Synergy One in May of 2018, and the deal was finalized that July.
