M&A Activity Thins

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that Freddie Mac achieved all three home purchase subgoals for 2005, but Fannie Mae was shy 0.41 percent of meeting its target low- and moderate-income home purchase subgoal of 45 percent. Both government-sponsored enterprises, however, met annual housing goals.

American Capital Strategies Ltd. on Thursday said it invested in a senior term B loan and redeemable preferred and common equity for its portfolio company eLynx Ltd. to support its acquisition of SwiftView Inc. SwiftView is reportedly the second largest provider of electronic document distribution services to the mortgage industry.

Sovereign Bancorp’s board named Joseph C. Campanelli company president and chief executive officer. He replaces Jay S. Sidhu, who on Wednesday resigned and retired from the roles due to family health related reasons but will serve as non-executive chairman until the end of the year, according to an announcement.

The Philadelphia-based bank’s board of directors was preparing to force Sidhu out due to poor performance, the Wall Street Journal reported. But the bank noted in its announcement, “Under Mr. Sidhu’s leadership, Sovereign grew from a nearly insolvent thrift with less than $1 billion in assets to a major American financial institution.”

Equilliance, an Orlando, Fla.-based mortgage company, recently announced it acquired Township Title.

The Federal Reserve Board said Friday it approved National City Corp.’s acquisition of Harbor Florida Bancshares Inc.

In reviewing merger proposal, which must be done by mid-January, the Fed received a comment alleging that Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data showed the bank extended a disproportionately high number of subprime mortgage loans in the Cincinnati area, particularly to low- to moderate-income borrowers, as compared to its lending outside the area. But National City’s “excellent” rating in the most recent evaluation of its Community Reinvestment Act efforts, among other things, impeded denial of the merger, the Fed said.

Wescom Credit Union announced it acquired CUSO Mortgage Inc., “one of the nation’s premier providers of mortgage services for credit unions.”

The Pasadena, Calif.-based company said the merger allows it to offer a comprehensive, industrywide mortgage solution for credit unions of all sizes and that CUSO Mortgage will retain its name.