A leading investment bank has teamed up with a large financial services company in a venture to buy and securitize multifamily mortgages.
Bear, Steams & Co. Inc., New York, and Cargill Financial Services Corp., Minneapolis, said their new conduit should "introduce a steady, ongoing source of liquidity for apartment loans by utilizing the highly efficient mortgage-backed securities market."
So far, three mortgage banks have been approved to sell loans to the conduit: American Residential Mortgage Corp., La Jolla, Calif.; ARCS Mortgage, Calabasas, Calif.; and Collateral Mortgage Ltd., Birmingham, Ala.
Apartment Mortgages
The MMC Program, as the new venture is called, will Purchase apartment mortgages and bundle them into securities for sale in the secondary market. The conduit will handle all the different stages of the securitization and sale of the loans.
William T. Ratliff 3d, Collateral's president, said the new program would make it easier for his company to sell the multifamily loans.
"The big advantage is that it will open up a much wider universe of investors into multi-family mortgage-backed securities," he said.
Bank of N.Y. Names Executive
Separately, Arcs -- a unit of the Bank of New York Corp. -- has named a new head of secondary marketing.
Ann Holmes Pennywitt previously held a senior secondary mortgage marketing position at Standard Federal Savings Bank of Virginia.
"Ann's extensive knowledge and experience in the secondary mortgage market and on Wall Street will allow our company to reinforce its position as an industry leader," said Howard J. Levine, chief executive officer of Arcs.
