Reverse Mortgage Investment Trust (RMIT), the parent company of Reverse Mortgage Funding, LLC (RMF) has announced that it has agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, a global private investment firm which is focused on real estate investments, and which maintains more than $60 billion of assets under management. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Starwood will be able to position RMIT and RMF for greater levels of growth, and is encouraged by the increasing prevalence of proprietary reverse mortgage products according to RMIT Chairman and CEO Craig Corn.
“This is an exciting opportunity for RMIT/RMF, as Starwood can be the catalyst to help accelerate our growth,” Corn said in a statement announcing the acquisition. “Over the last few years, Starwood has been an innovator in non-agency mortgages, helping grow the industry into the success it is today. Starwood believes the private reverse mortgage sector has a similar opportunity for growth and believes RMF is the perfect platform to help expand the market.”
RMIT/RMF is being acquired by the Starwood affiliate as a standalone entity, which means that the current management and leadership team will remain in place. The acquisition itself is cause for excitement among management, according to RMF President David Peskin.
“The management team is very excited about this partnership, and we are looking forward to turning our energy towards growing RMF into the clear industry leader and market innovator we pride ourselves on being,” Peskin said.
RMF is the third largest reverse mortgage lender by retail and wholesale volume over the prior 12 months, according to August 2019 data compiled by Reverse Market Insight (RMI).
The company also recently announced the availability of a new interest rate option for its proprietary Equity Elite product, which is aimed at expanding the reverse mortgage market to a greater share of senior borrowers.
