Art of the Deals

In a move to further expand FHA financing and servicing to commercial real estate developers, KeyCorp announced it will acquire Dallas-based Malone Mortgage Co. in a deal expected to close around August.

Malone Mortgage reportedly originates, underwrites, and services multifamily FHA loans for new construction, acquisition and the refinancing of existing facilities. The acquisition will make KeyCorp’s commercial real estate line of business among the top-10 FHA servicers in the country and bring the company’s commercial mortgage servicing portfolio to nearly $40 billion, the Cleveland-based banker said.

Malone Mortgage said in the announcement that combining its “FHA expertise with KeyBank’s national strength as a commercial real estate lender will provide our clients with the full-service lending institution they are looking for.”

The Jersey Shore State Bank recently opened a new regional banking facility in headquarters state of Pennsylvania, it announced.

In addition to a full-service branch office, the new facility of the Penns Woods Bancorp Inc. subsidiary will reportedly offer residential mortgage lending functions, as well as investment and insurance services.

Also opening a new branch early last month was Ohio-based First Place Financial Corp.

The financial services company and its subsidiary First Place Bank announced the new Holland, Mich., office would include two residential loan officers to initially concentrate on serving the residential mortgage financing needs of clients in the Holland area.

“Our goal is to expand the office in the future with both business and commercial real estate loan officers,” said Craig Johnson, a First Place Michigan regional president, in the announcement.

First Place Financial’s businesses First Place Bank and Franklin Bank reportedly have a combined total of 11 loan production offices.

Market Street Mortgage recently said it would acquire 27 residential production offices from mortgage banker Major Mortgage in a transaction expected to close early this month.

The offices Market Street will be acquiring from the Cheyenne, Wyo.-based lender are located in Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. “This deal allows us to continue growing our presence in the Western region of the country,” said Market Street CEO Randall C. Johnson in a written statement.

Clearwater, Fla.-based Market Street, which says it closed $2.5 billion in mortgages last year, reported that the 27 offices were responsible for originating more than $690 million in mortgage loans.

With the merger, Market Street will reportedly have 101 locations serving homebuyers, homebuilders and real estate agents in 42 states.

Residential Capital Corp. recently announced it closed a $4 billion private offering of senior notes issued as $1 billion of floating-rate notes due 2007, $2.5 billion of 6.375% notes due 2010, and $500 million of 6.875% notes due 2015.

ResCap says it intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay indebtedness owed to its parent company, General Motors Acceptance Corp. and for general corporate purposes.

GMAC recently established ResCap as a holding company. To provide additional operational and financial flexibility and to enhance the liquidity of these operations, GMAC transferred to ResCap ownership of GMAC Mortgage Corp. and Residential Funding Corp., the announcement said.