An investment fund created by Lewis Ranieri, known as the father of mortgage securitization, has outbid two rival firms to win the bankruptcy auction for more than 1,000 foreclosed residential properties owned by the troubled mortgage lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jerry A. Funk in Jacksonville, Fla., approved the sale to Selene Residential Mortgage Opportunity Fund LP at a hearing Tuesday, according to Taylor Bean bankruptcy lawyer Jeffrey Kelley.
Selene, a fund founded by Ranieri and other mortgage finance veterans to invest in distressed real estate, agreed to pay $81.2 million for 1,046 bank-owned residential properties, outbidding DLJ Mortgage Capital and William Blake Street LLC.
Ranieri, a former Salomon Brothers' vice chairman, was immortalized in Michael Lewis' 1989 book "Liar's Poker." He is often called the creator of the securitized mortgage market.
