While 2013 wasn't exactly a banner year for origination numbers--the fizzle of 2012's refinance boom and the publishing of new regulatory guidelines were no small source of stress for lenders--it was a decidedly different story for mortgage servicing rights (MSR) deals. Here are some of the biggest wheelers and dealers in the last year.
[IMAGE]*Nationstar:* The year had barely started when Nationstar and Bank of America ""announced"":https://themreport.com/articles/nationstar-bofa-agree-to-215b-servicing-rights-deal-2013-01-07 a $1.3 billion deal involving $215 billion worth of MSRs. Nationstar entered the agreement with backing from Newcastle Investment Corp.; according to a release published at the time, each company retained one-third interest in the MSRs, with Nationstar servicing all the loans. The deal brought Nationstar's customer base up to 1.5 million, and its servicing portfolio grew to an estimated $425 billion.
*Walter Investment Management Corp.:* Nationstar wasn't the only firm wanting a piece of BofA's MSRs. At the same time, the bank struck an ""agreement"":https://themreport.com/articles/walter-investment-expands-mortgage-servicing-rights-portfolio-2013-01-09 with Walter Investment: $93 billion worth of Fannie Mae-backed residential servicing assets for $519 million. The portfolio included 650,000 loans.
The firm also made moves in the ""reverse mortgage world"":https://themreport.com/articles/walter-investment-doubles-reverse-mortgage-servicing-book-with-new-acquisition-2013-04-10, acquiring more than 76,000 reverse loans for its subsidiary (Reverse Mortgage Solutions) from Wells Fargo. With an unpaid principal balance of about $12.2 billion, the acquisition effectively doubled the size of Walter Investment's serviced book.
Walter Investment also announced another deal in January to acquire MetLife Bank's mortgage servicing platform, though the assets didn't involve servicing rights.
*Ocwen Financial Corporation:* It was certainly a busy year for Ocwen, which spent the first half of 2013 continuing with its aggressive expansion in the field of MSRs. The firm was one of a few companies that made a grab for Ally's ""servicing rights"":https://themreport.com/articles/ally-to-sell-agency-servicing-rights-ocwen-2013-03-12 in March as the bank worked to move away from mortgages. In its own deal, Ocwen procured about $90 billion worth for around $585 million. (That announcement came on top of Ocwen's acquisition of ResCap's servicing assets in a ""sale that concluded in February"":https://themreport.com/articles/rescap-completes-sale-of-servicing-assets-to-ocwen-2013-02-18.)
A few months later, ""Ocwen and OneWest Bank"":https://themreport.com/articles/ocwen-onewest-bank-strike-deal-on-78b-in-servicing-rights-2013-06-14 announced a $2.5 billion deal for a $78 billion portfolio.
*Quicken Loans:* A fast-growing online lender, Quicken is also in the game for MSRs. Shortly after Ocwen's transaction with Ally, ""Quicken moved in"":https://themreport.com/articles/quicken-to-acquire-last-of-allys-servicing-rights-2013-03-21 to take the last of the bank's servicing rights--a portfolio worth about $34 billion. The purchase price came to about $280 million, Quicken announced.
Commenting on the deal, Quicken CEO Bill Emerson made it clear the company was looking to grow in the servicing field: ""We have not been bashful in making the market aware of our interest in acquiring servicing rights. This transaction with Ally Bank allows us to purchase a well performing pool of loans, and will help us grow our servicing footprint.""
*Two Harbors:* Just in time to make it on the 2013 list, ""Two Harbors"":https://themreport.com/articles/flagstar-to-sell-407b-in-servicing-rights-reit-2013-12-19 announced in mid-December the acquisition of a $40.7 billion portfolio from Flagstar through the former's subsidiary, Matrix Financial Services Corporation. The $500 million agreement covers loans originated mostly after 2010 and serviced for Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae, the companies said. Per the agreement, Flagstar will act as the sub-servicer on all of the loans underlying the MSRs.