A high-profile investor has expressed interest in reviving the bankrupt parent of former mortgage insurance giant PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. (originally this story mistakenly listed PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., itself, instead of parent The PMI Mortgage Group, as the target of the investment).
The Walnut Creek, Calif.-based firm was ordered by the Arizona Department of Insurance in August 2011 to stop writing new policies. By the following October, the insurance department had full possession, management and control of PMI.
A month later, parent The PMI Group Inc. filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The filing was intended to buy time for the company to ponder strategic options.
A filing this week by The PMI Group Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed investor interest in the liquidating entity.
“The registrant has received an indication of interest from a well-known private equity investor who has indicated an interest in infusing new capital (along with a portion of the company’s existing capital) into a reorganized company in exchange for a minority equity interest in the reorganized company and management control over the reorganized company,” the filing stated. “The registrant, in consultation with the official committee of unsecured creditors appointed in the Chapter 11 case, is reviewing the indication of interest.”
PMI clarified that no binding agreement is yet in place.
*(After the publication of this story, a spokesman for PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., which is the operating entity under the control of the Arizona Department of Insurance, clarified that it has nothing to do with any investment made in The PMI Group Inc., which is in bankruptcy. It’s possible that any investment in The PMI Group will involve no mortgage insurance operations.)