A deal announced two months ago to acquire Mortgage Master Inc. has closed, creating one of the biggest nonbank lenders in the country.
In November,
loanDepot LLC said it had reached an agreement to acquire the Walpole, Mass.-based residential lender.
The transaction was expected to enable
Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based loanDepot to expand in the Northeast as it builds a national consumer lending business, loanDepot Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Anthony Hsieh said at the time.
On Wednesday, loanDepot confirmed that it closed on the acquisition this week, increasing its headcount by 700 to 3,700 employees.
The combined company operates more than 130 retail branches and four national production centers. It does business in all 50 states.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” Hsieh said in a written statement.
Hsieh noted that loanDepot is now “the nation’s second largest nonbank consumer lender.”
Leif Thomsen, founder of Mortgage Master, and Paul Anastos, the company’s president, will stay on to lead the Mortgage Master division.
In today’s statement, Hsieh noted that Thomsen is “an exceptional leader.”
“Mortgage Master doesn’t see this as a closing, but rather a new beginning,” Anastos stated. “The closing of the transaction is the first of many steps in building the top lender in the company.
“It isn’t the last.”
