Another Orange County-based mortgage lender is attempting to make the leap onto the national stage.
Excelerate Capital, a Newport Beach provider of wholesale, retail and residential mortgages, named Thomas Yoon to the chief executive and president positions. Yoon, who has held management positions in locally-based Pacific Mercantile and Banc of California Inc., co-authored “The Mortgage Maze” in 2016.
The CEO appointment “is a critical step in the execution of Excelerate’s strategic plan to drive $5 billion in origination volume during 2022 and take its well-earned position as a national leader in non-QM lending,” Chairman Mike Thompson said in a statement.
Non-QM is a home loan designed to help homebuyers who cannot meet the typical criteria for a mortgage, such as self-employed, 1099 workers or real estate investors.
“When other lenders say no, we say yes!” reads its website.
Excelerate leases roughly 19,000 square feet of office space at the 4000 MacArthur office campus, where its name is on top of one of the two towers located at the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Jamboree Road.
Orange County is the headquarters of several national leaders in mortgages, such as Foothill Ranch’s loanDepot Inc. and Tustin’s New American Funding.
Windjammer Goes Mulching
Newport Beach private equity firm Windjammer Capital Investors has acquired Fecon, a manufacturer of mulching attachments, parts, and carriers used for vegetation and land management in North America.
Based in Lebanon, Ohio, Fecon serves a variety of end markets, including utility and infrastructure maintenance and right of way/site developments.
“Fecon is a great example of the type of business Windjammer seeks for investment – a niche market leader delivering mission critical products and services with a solid market position,” said Matt Anderson, Managing Director at Windjammer’s Newport Beach office.
Windjammer Capital, which also has an office in Waltham, Mass., typically invests control equity in middle-market businesses and in partnership with management. Since its founding in 1990, Windjammer has completed over 60 platform investments and more than 160 strategic add-ons.
Fecon is the seventh investment from Windjammer’s $870 million Senior Equity Fund V. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Windjammer typically invests $50 million to $200 million in companies with EBITDA between $8 million to $50 million. Fecon CEO Bob Dieckman previously partnered with Windjammer when he was a senior leader at one of its portfolio companies, Rotex.
Windjammer currently has 26 portfolio companies listed on its website.
Toll Road Cuts Debt
The Transportation Corridor Agencies continues to take advantage of low interest rates.
Instead of refinancing to extend payments out further years, it refunded $1.05 billion in its Series 2014A bonds to reduce about $138.7 million in debt service payments, lowering its interest rate from 5% to 3.14%.
“The move will not extend bond maturity dates and further strengthens the Agency’s cash position while creating additional flexibility to pay down other bonds early or invest in key capital projects,” the agency proclaimed in a statement.
The Irvine-based agency, which oversees Orange County’s 51-mile toll road network, said it’s now saved save more than $700 million in debt service payments without extending any bond maturity dates. The agency’s two toll roads still owe about $5 billion, the last payment which is scheduled for 2053.
