As it prepares for an initial public offering, Nationstar Mortgage disclosed that it has recruited former executives of Fannie Mae and Citigroup Inc. to fill senior management slots. The company sees opportunity in building and refinancing its servicing portfolio.
Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. expects to sell 16,666,667 shares of common stock at between $17 and $19 a share in its initial public offering, according to a FORM S-1 filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
After the IPOÂ is completed, an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC will own as much as 80.8 percent of the common stock, which will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NSM.
The chairman of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings is Fortress co-chairman Wesley R. Edens, while Jay Bray is the president, chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the company.
The operating subsidiary of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings is Nationstar Mortgage LLC. Anthony H. Barone is chairman of the subsidiary.
Harold Lewis has been hired by Nationstar Mortgage LLC as its president and chief operating officer, a separate SEC filing from Nationstar Mortgage said. His compensation package includes a cash salary of $450,000 and a guaranteed bonus of $1,150,000 for fiscal-year 2012. Lewis is also receiving a $1 million initial equity grant, a $650,000 sign-on bonus and a $550,000 relocation payment.
Lewis previously served as chief operating officer at CitiMortgage Inc. where he oversaw more than 9,000 employees. He worked at Fannie Mae before joining Citi in April 2009.
In addition, the Lewisville, Texas-based firm has recruited David C. Hisey as executive vice president and CFO. His compensation package includes a $375,000 cash salary, a guaranteed $1 million bonus for fiscal-year 2012 and a $1 million initial equity grant.
Hisey previously worked for Fannie as its controller and as its deputy CFO.
Both appointments, which become effective on Feb. 27, are subject to regulatory approvals.
Nationstar reported that it originated $3.4 billion during 2011, growing from $2.8 billion funded the prior year.
The company hopes to feed its production channel from refinances generated from the “re-origination” of its servicing portfolio.
Nationstar serviced more than 645,000 residential loans for $106.6 billion as of Dec. 31, 2011. The servicing portfolio was only $12.7 billion at the end of 2007.
The company claims to be the “largest high touch non-bank servicer in the United States” and the fastest-growing servicer since 2007 with the unpaid principal balances on its portfolio increasing by 70 percent annually on a compounded basis.
The national staff size at Nationstar exceeds 2,500.
Nationstar sees opportunity in the current regulatory environment and predicts a shift from banks to non-bank servicers.
Nationstar earned $21 million last year, swinging from a $10 million loss in 2010 and an $81 million loss in 2009.
