American Mortgage News

Transaction Adds Scale to Citigroup’s Mortgage Franchise, Increasing Its Wholesale Salesforce and Enhancing Its Position as a Leading Mortgage Lender and Servicer

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citigroup announced today that it will acquire ABN AMRO Mortgage Group (AAMG), a national originator and servicer of prime residential mortgage loans. Citigroup will purchase approximately $9 billion in net assets and ABN AMRO Mortgage Group’s approximately $224 billion mortgage servicing portfolio. ABN AMRO Mortgage Group’s primary originations business is via wholesale lending under the InterFirst brand. ABN AMRO Mortgage Group is a subsidiary of LaSalle Bank Corporation and ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

I'd like to report- and this appears to be a total scoop for American Mortgage News- that 123Loan has gone out of business, as of December 1, 2006. They were generating a 1/3 of their production from wholesale, apparantly 2nds & some helocs. I know that last year they had, at least at one point, been selling on a forward basis to HSBC. Walt Drakton, their secondary manager, had told me that the problem he had- and he's not alone- was finding takers for his S&D helocs. They had been servicing that.

HECM 100(TM) offers homeowners access to more money and lower interest
rates

NEWBURGH, N.Y., Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- BNY Mortgage Company (BNYMC) is changing the face of the reverse mortgage industry with the introduction of HECM 100(TM), the first in what BNYMC sees as a new generation of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) products. HECM 100 is a federally insured HECM loan that offers lower interest rates than a traditional HECM, saving borrowers significantly in costs over the life of the loan while giving them immediate access to more cash.

HECM 100(TM) offers homeowners access to more money and lower interest
rates

NEWBURGH, N.Y., Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- BNY Mortgage Company (BNYMC) is
changing the face of the reverse mortgage industry with the introduction of

CALABASAS, Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Countrywide
Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) released operational data for the month
ended December 31, 2006. Key operational results included the following:

OWENSBORO, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--U.S. Bank Home Mortgage reached a milestone in mortgage servicing when it crossed $100 billion in volume on Thursday, Jan. 4. The company will celebrate with employees at its servicing centers on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

MCLEAN, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Harbourton Capital Group, Inc. (“Harbourton” or the “Company”) (OTC:HBTC) today announced that effective December 20, 2006, Harbourton Mortgage Investment Corporation (“HMIC”), its wholly owned mortgage-banking subsidiary, ceased funding new mortgage loans and initiated a process to wind down its operations.

VERO BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Opteum Inc. (NYSE:OPX) (“Opteum” or the “Company”), a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that operates an integrated mortgage-related securities investment portfolio and mortgage origination platform, today announced that it has sold a 7.5% non-voting limited liability company membership interest in the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Opteum Financial Services, LLC (“OFS”), to Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corp. (“Citigroup Realty”), a unit of Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking, for $4,125,000. The Company also granted Citigroup Realty the option, exercisable at any time before December 21, 2007, to purchase an additional 7.49% non-voting limited liability company membership interest in OFS for $4,119,500. Separately, the Company today announced that it expects substantial cost savings at OFS as a result of amendments to OFS’ funding facilities with Citigroup Realty.