\n<\/p>\n
Connecticut-based lender and servicer\u00a0Planet Home Lending<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0has acquired the assets of Illinois-based retail lender\u00a0Platinum Home Mortgage Corporation<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the acquisition, Planet will inherit the majority of Platinum\u2019s origination staff and branches throughout the country. The deal also expands Planet\u2019s footprint in the Midwest, Northwest and West Coast markets. <\/p>\n Founded in 1993 by Bill and Michael Giambrone, Platinum has 22 branches and 79 active loan officers, according to the mortgage tech platform Modex<\/strong>. The company’s assets will add to Planet\u2019s 30 branches and 128 active LOs. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think retail is great for anybody right now with rates<\/a> high and home values high, but it\u2019s a good time to be investing in retail,\u201d Michael Dubeck, CEO and president of Planet Financial Group<\/strong>, parent of Planet Home Lending, said in an interview. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re taking a long-run view that it\u2019s going to pay off. It\u2019s an investment down the road,\u201d the executive added. \u201cWe look to acquire right-sized, financially solid distributed retail companies.\u201d <\/p>\n Platinum\u2019s current president and CEO, Lee Gross, will join Planet as senior vice president and continue to lead the Platinum team. According to Gross, the move to the new company brings \u201caccess to improved pricing, technology and marketing to Platinum\u2019s branches.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to agency and GSE home loans, Planet also has niche products tailored to today\u2019s tight real estate markets, including self-funded One-Time Close (OTC) construction loans as well as manufactured housing and renovation mortgage loans,\u201d Gross said in a statement. <\/p>\n Planet, which originates loans through the correspondent<\/a> and retail channels, plans to grow organically and via mergers and acquisitions. However, according to Dubeck, the lender has no plans to enter the wholesale space, as it would create channel conflicts.\u00a0<\/p>\n In April 2022, Planet agreed to acquire assets from Homepoint<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s delegated correspondent channel for $2.5 million in cash. The transaction doubled Planet\u2019s clients base in the correspondent space, with 60% of these clients delivering loans monthly to the lender, Dubeck said. <\/p>\n \u201cCorrespondent is probably our most mature and efficient channel,\u201d Dubeck added. <\/p>\n Planet was the third largest correspondent lender in the first quarter of 2023, following Pennymac Financial <\/a><\/strong>and AmeriHome Mortgage<\/strong>, per Inside Mortgage Finance<\/strong> (IMF) estimates. <\/strong><\/p>\n The lender originated $6.5 billion in mortgage loans from January to March, with $6.3 billion from the correspondent channel. According to IMF, it was enough for the lender to become the 9th largest mortgage lender in the country.<\/p>\n Regarding its servicing portfolio, it had $68 billion in owned mortgage servicing in the first quarter of 2023, the 29th largest servicer by this metric in the U.S. In early May, the company launched a commercial servicing division<\/a> led by James DePalma and Janina Woods. <\/p>\n