Bank of America Corp. is negotiating to sell its correspondent mortgage business to a unit of the private-equity firm Fortress Investment Group LLC in New York, according to people familiar with the situation.
The Fortress unit, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. in Lewisville, Texas, has been conducting due diligence on the business in recent weeks, these people said. The deal isn't yet final, and talks could still fall apart.
Bank of America inherited the correspondent mortgage business when it bought Countrywide Financial Corp. The bank decided last month to get out of the correspondent business because it no longer fits with the long-term strategy for its mortgage unit.
A spokesman for Fortress and Nationstar did not comment. A Bank of America spokesman did not comment about a potential sale to Fortress but said, "We feel positive about progress being made with interested parties."
As the former chief executive of Fannie Mae, Fortress Chief Executive Daniel Mudd helped preserve Fannie's long-running ties to Countrywide. Fannie was an active purchaser of Countrywide mortgages.
