Manufactured housing giant Green Tree Financial Corp. is looking to pick up market share as peers leave the business, said newly named chief executive officer Bruce Crittenden.
Specialty finance companies have had a difficult year, and many pared back operations when capital funding dried up. But do not expect the same problems at Green Tree, Mr. Crittenden said.
"There are two things that differentiate Green Tree," he said in an interview. "We've been there through thick and thin, and we've got a great credit culture."
The St. Paul-based company, founded 25 years ago, was bought this year by insurer Conseco Inc., Carmel, Ind. In addition to manufactured housing loans, Green Tree makes home equity, consumer, and credit card loans.
As competitors scramble for capital, Green Tree will be concentrating on "picking our opportunities" and cross-selling products with Conseco, Mr. Crittenden said.
Last week, Conseco announced that Green Tree founder and CEO Lawrence Coss would leave the company. The move is a sign that the acquisition is going as planned, executives from the two companies said.
Mr. Coss felt "absolutely no pressure" to leave, said Thomas Kilian, Conseco's chief operations officer.
He and Conseco chief executive Steve Hilbert "had discussed this ahead of time. We had a plan; it just happened earlier than some folks thought," Mr. Kilian said.
Mr. Coss, who earned notoriety both for Green Tree's fast growth and for his huge pay packages, will take with him $30 million in compensation and a bundle of perks. Among them are an option to buy the company jet and use of a bodyguard.
When the Conseco-Green Tree deal was announced in April, Mr. Coss' plans were unclear. "I'm staying around as long as I can to make a contribution," he said then.
He will stay on Green Tree's board of directors, and other finance company executives speculate that Mr. Coss may start another company. Mr. Coss did not return phone calls seeking comment.
In June Mr. Coss, 60, told American Banker that he was too young to retire and would have nothing to do if he did. "I don't play golf," he joked then.
Mr. Crittenden, a three-year Green Tree veteran, is to take the helm in January.
Green Tree is unlikely to veer much from the course set by Mr. Coss, Mr. Crittenden said. For example, he said, the company will not soon offer any new product and will not be looking for any large acquisition.
The company has "enough on our plate with the products we have," he said.
Between Conseco and Green Tree, "there aren't many products that we don't have or can't produce," Mr. Crittenden said.
Credit quality continues to be strong, he said, and the company has not suffered from an additional rise in prepayments.
"We haven't had any surprises since the merger," Mr. Crittenden said, "and we don't anticipate any problems."
