Appraisal Ace Blog

Former Countrywide execs form PennyMac to sell whole loans

By Riley McDermid

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- A group of former executives from troubled lender Countrywide Financial Corp.are forming a new firm to capitalize on the fallout in the mortgage-securitization business, the newly-formed company announced Monday. Former Countrywide President Stanford Kurland and other high-ranking colleagues are forming Private National Mortgage Acceptance Co., or PennyMac, to purchase distressed whole loans, revamp them and then sell them at a profit. PennyMac will partner with private equity firm BlackRock Inc and Highfields Capital Management on the deal.

PennyMac is unique in that it will revert to old-fashioned buying of one loan at a time, as opposed to purchasing huge blocks of bundles mortgage securities, and will then work with borrowers to restructure the loan to become profitable again.