Flagstar to buy correspondent lending platform from Stearns

Flagstar Bancorp in Troy, Mich., has agreed to buy the residential mortgage delegated correspondent lending platform of Stearns Lending.

The $14.1 billion-asset Flagstar said in a press release Monday that it will also buy certain other assets. Flagstar did not disclose the price it will pay.

The transaction is expected to close in the next 30 days.

Stearns' business consists of about 250 correspondent relationships accounting for more than $7 billion of agency and governmental residential mortgage loan production annually. Stearns' employees and subcontractors tied to the delegated business will join Flagstar.

The acquisition “gives us a tremendous opportunity to expand our market share in the delegated space," Alessandro DiNello, Flagstar's president and CEO, said in the release. "Throughout our analysis of the business, we have been impressed with the Stearns' team's approach to the correspondent channel, their focus on customer service and their commitment to sound risk management.”

Wells Fargo Securities and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton advised Stearns. BuckleySandler advised Flagstar.

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