Fortress Investment Group is about to be acquired by SoftBank Group in a $3.3 billion deal, but Fortress isn’t done making its own acquisitions while that deal works its way through the legal process.
Fortress announced Tuesday that it is acquired Colony American Finance, a lender that provides financing for real estate investors who want to purchase single-family rental homes, townhomes, condos, and small multifamily properties.
Specifically, “certain funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group have purchased the equity and substantially all of the assets of Colony American Finance,” the companies said in a release.
The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
According to the companies, Colony American Finance will be rebranded as CoreVest American Finance Lender.
Colony American Finance launched in 2014 and has closed more than $2.8 billion in loans since its inception.
The companies said that the Colony American Finance’s senior management team will remain in their current positions and help Fortress launch CoreVest.
Beth O’Brien, formerly the CEO of Colony American Finance and now the CEO of CoreVest, said that having Fortress’ financial backing will allow the company to grow significantly.
“We are excited to bring the same team and the same approach to the market under the CoreVest brand,” O’Brien said. “Our customers will continue to work with our people and experience our high level of service, while also benefiting from the strategic capital brought by the Fortress Funds.”
The deal increases Fortress’ already substantial real estate empire.
Fortress is the parent company for New Residential Investment, which has grown its market share in mortgage servicing rights substantially in the last few years.
At the end of last year, PHH announced that it planned to sell off its entire mortgage servicing rights portfolio in a massive deal with New Residential, while New Residential also bought nearly all of CitiMortgage’s mortgage servicing rights in a deal earlier this year.
New Residential is also buying $117 billion in MSRs from Ocwen Financial in a deal that also includes New Residential making an equity investment in Ocwen and becoming a 4.9% owner of the nonbank.
Fortress is also the majority shareholder in Nationstar Mortgage, soon to be known as Mr. Cooper.
Per the latest data from Nasdaq, Fortress owns nearly 70% of Nationstar. According to Fortress’ website, the company acquired Nationstar in 2006 and took the company public in 2012.
And now, Fortress owns the company formerly known as Colony American Finance.
“We see terrific synergies between CoreVest and Fortress,” said Christopher Hoeffel, chief financial officer of CoreVest. “The new relationship with the Fortress Funds, given their experience in the specialty finance area, will allow us to expand our market leading position in the growing, yet underserved, single-family rental finance market.”
