In Brief: First Chesapeake Buys, Renames Fla. Lender

First Chesapeake Financial Corp. announced the acquisition of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Bankers Mortgage of South Florida.

It renamed the Florida company First Chesapeake Funding Corp. and appointed its former owner, Les Salzman, president of the new subsidiary. Mr. Salzman, 44, was also an executive vice president in the Fort Lauderdale office of Costa Mesa, Calif.-based EMB Mortgage.

First Chesapeake Financial was founded in 1992. It focused on the servicing end of the business but had a hard time competing as the industry consolidated. It shut down operations last year.

The Florida deal inaugurated a rebuilding phase for the parent company, Mr. Salzman said. It is in negotiations for several other acquisitions.

For the next 12 months, he said, the company will focus on originations, particularly of low- and no-documentation loans with loan-to-value ratios of 90% to 95%.

The parent's former management resigned, and the company retained interim management to oversee moving its headquarters to Philadelphia from Richmond, Va.

"An announcement of permanent management will be made shortly," the company said in a press release last week.

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