Fannie Mae‘s former head of single family lending, Andrew Bon Salle, will get to see an IPO after all – the mortgage veteran was named chairman of the board of Home Point Capital on Monday.
Bon Salle, a 30-year industry stalwart who was tasked with transforming the government service enterprise from a fax machine-heavy operation into a 21st -century company, left Fannie Mae in the fall.
A former college basketball player, Bon Salle spent most of his career at Fannie Mae, heading underwriting and pricing and capital markets before a promotion as head of single family.
“I like to compete and I like to win – for us and our customers, and that’s motivation for me, on top of all the other things we’re doing,” Bon Salle told HousingWire in July 2017.
His forthcoming day-to-day responsibilities as chairman of the board at Home Point Capital, the parent company of wholesale lender Homepoint, are not yet clear. But his addition gives the Ann Arbor-based lender a highly seasoned and respected veteran ahead of an IPO, which is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2021.
Riding a wave of low mortgage rates that has propelled virtually every lender to profitability, Homepoint posted $443 million in profits through the first nine months of 2020. By contrast, the lender lost $45.3 million during the first nine months of 2019, according to the S-1.
Homepoint has witnessed a phenomenal rise in originations in the last three years. It originated $38.05 billion for the nine months that ended Sept. 30, with a gain-on-sale margin of 253 basis points. During the same period in 2019, it produced just under $14 billion, with a gain-on-sale margin of just 97 basis points.
Observers told HousingWire at the time that Bon Salle’s exit was a blow to Fannie Mae. A fair amount of top talent has left Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the waning days of the Trump administration, as it has become increasingly clear that the companies won’t exit conservatorship and go public anytime soon.
Homepoint, backed by private equity firm Stone Point Capital, indicated in its prospectus that it planned to raise $100 million in an IPO, though that figure is often a placeholder for a larger future number. Its debut on Wall Street would follow that of wholesale titan United Wholesale Mortgage, the leader in the broker channel, and top overall originator Rocket Companies, which made the leap in August.
