The latest round of consolidation in the beleaguered subprime mortgage industry appears to be only the beginning.
A number of local subprime companies, which make and service loans to borrowers with less-than-perfect credit, are looking to line up investors, if not outright buyers, to bail them out as the industry experiences a freefall, led by Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp.
Any deals are likely to come at rock-bottom prices. Increasing loan defaults, losses and worries about slowing home appreciation have put any potential sellers in a tough negotiating position.
Subprime companies that could have fetched prices running in the hundreds of millions or more a little more than a year ago now will be hard pressed to find terms anywhere as attractive, analysts said.
“It’s the worst possible time to try to sell” a subprime business, Brian Horey, president of New York-based asset management firm Aurelian Management LLC, recently told the Wall Street Journal.
The past few months have seen a number of local subprime deals struck,at less than impressive prices.
Irvine-based ECC Capital Corp. sold its subprime operations to Bear Stearns Cos. in February for a listed price of $26 million. The catch: In order to close the deal, ECC had to pay Bear Stearns $7 million to cover loans that had gone bad.
ECC also sold about $1.2 billion in loans to Bear Stearns as part of the deal, but the company recently said the purchase price for those loans was less than originally anticipated.
Earlier this month, Brea-based subprime mortgage lender ResMae Mortgage Corp. said it was being bought by Citadel Investment Group LLC for about $178 million for both the bankrupt company’s loans and operations.
Citadel offered $20 million for ResMae’s lending operations and 98.5 cents on the dollar for the company’s $160 million in loans, according to reports. Citadel beat out an earlier bid from Credit Suisse Group, which had offered about $19 million for ResMae’s lending operations and 98 cents on the dollar for its $160 million loan portfolio.
Industry watchers are wondering who’s next? H & R; Block Inc. is looking to offload Irvine-based subprime mortgage lender Option One Mortgage Corp. by the end of this month. The asking price: a whopping $1.3 billion, according to the Kansas City, Mo.-based tax preparer.
Analysts are skeptical.
“The $1.3 billion value is a pipe dream,” Horey said.
H & R; Block said that it hasn’t received any formal bids yet but still calls its price realistic. Earlier this month, as other subprime lenders were seeing their market values lose billions, it cut the value of Option One assets by a mere $29 million.
Another company the market is keeping an eye on is Orange-based ACC Capital Holdings.
The parent company of former subprime leader Ameriquest Mortgage Co. said in late February that it had struck a deal with Citigroup that could result in the New York-based financial company buying ACC’s Argent Mortgage Co. and AMC Mortgage Services units.
Citigroup’s deal includes the option to buy ACC Capital’s wholesale mortgage lending and servicing operations, subject to requirements and business milestones, the company said.
Argent funds mortgages brought to it by brokers. AMC Mortgage services mortgages.
Ameriquest, ACC’s best-known brand, is not part of the tentative sales agreement, even though it too has also been the subject of numerous acquisition rumors in recent months.
The Citigroup news comes as part of a financing deal it reached with ACC Capital. The bank has agreed to become ACC Capital’s primary warehouse lender.
Large Wall Street investment banks like Citigroup are the likeliest buyers for the area’s subprime lenders, although private equity investors and even hedge funds have been cited as potential suitors as of late.
Goldman Sachs has dropped hints in the past few weeks that it thinks the subprime market has basically bottomed out, and might be looking to acquire companies on the cheap.
