CAPSTEAD MORTGAGE CORP. has hired Christopher T. Gilson to mount a push into mortgage originations and other financial services, the company announced.
Mr. Gilson, 52, will serve as president of Capstead Inc., a new subsidiary. Until early this year, he was head of NationsBanc Mortgage Corp.
Capstead Mortgage is a real estate investment trust that securitizes and invests in jumbo mortgages. Though Capstead has yet to fully define the extent and scope of the expansion, it intends to move well beyond its current business.
The drive for diversification follows a year of big change at the Dallas-based company. Capstead recently completed a separation from Lomas Financial Corp., which formerly managed the company and to which Capstead funneled servicing rights.
The separation led Capstead to begin doing its own servicing, a function that will now be assumed by the new unit.
"Over time we plan to expand into more of the traditional mortgage banking and financial services areas through the combination of initiating new operations and opportunistic acquisition," Mr. Gilson said in a phone interview this week.
The move into "traditional mortgage banking" may include increased originations and geographic expansion, said Mr. Gilson.
Concerning nonmortgage financial services that might interest Capstead, Mr. Gilson was cagey, saying that no definitive decisions had been made. But he did say that "certain types of insurance have a natural affinity with mortgage banking."
Capstead, Mr. Gilson said, is well-capitalized and will serve as a good base from which to expand.
Mr. Gilson will report to Ronn K. Lytle, chairman and chief executive officer of Capstead Mortgage. Mr. Gilson "has successfully built a large mortgage banking operation at NationsBank and has a broad financial services background," said Mr. Lytle.
|A Sound, Knowledgeable Player'
Industry executives applauded the choice of Mr. Gilson, who has been out of mortgage banking since he resigned from the NationsBank unit early this year. Previously, he was at Citicorp Mortgage St. Louis, from 1973 to 1989, attaining the position of executive vice president.
"Chris is a sound, knowledgable player in mortgages," said Robert Horner of Hamilton, Carter, Smith Consultants, a former chief of Citicorp Mortgage.
Terry Dayoe of Lomas Financial also lauded the appointment, citing Mr. Gilson's initiative and integrity.
Capstead Mortgage is a major player in the securitization of jumbo mortgages. The company expects purchase volume for the fourth quarter to exceed $1.5 billion, up from $1.3 billion in the same period last year.
