With the closing of an acquisition announced last year, two mortgage banking firms have combined to create one of the nation’s 20-largest lenders.
On Feb. 2, HomeBridge Financial Services completed its acquisition of the operating assets of Prospect Mortgage LLC, a statement Tuesday said.
The deal, originally announced on Nov. 1, 2016, by Iselin, New Jersey-based HomeBridge was expected to create a top-20 residential lender.
Staffing now stands at nearly 3,000 employees, including around 500 Prospect loan originators who were responsible for $8.4 billion in loan production last year.
With the acquisition,
HomeBridge now operates more than 250 branches in 35 states.
Mortgage originations between the two companies was around $14 billion in 2015 — a level of production that would have ranked the combined company among the top-20 U.S. lenders based on data maintained by Mortgage Daily.
“As a result of the acquisition, HomeBridge will also become one of the 10 largest non-bank mortgage lenders in the U.S. for overall production,” the statement said.
HomeBridge reports nearly $10 billion in originations during 2016.
HomeBridge’s chief executive officer, Peter Norden; president, Joel Katz; and chief operating officer, Joe Sheridan will all maintain their positions in the combined organization.
“Through the acquisition, we now have improved access to capital while remaining the entrepreneurial and nimble mortgage lender the industry knows us as,” Norden said in the statement. “As an independent mortgage lender, HomeBridge is an industry leader in its ability to effectively balance profitability and volume, while continuing our commitment to operating in compliance and providing customers with a level of service rarely seen in the financial world.”