ACQUISITIONS IN 2023

A glance at just some of the mortgage industry companies growing by acquisition:

• Legacy Bank & Trust Co. acquired Crain Mortgage Group LLC

• American Pacific Mortgage acquired the assets of Lend Smart Mortgage LLC

• First American Financial Corp. acquired 1031 Solutions LLC

• Mutual of Omaha Mortgage acquired Keller Mortgage

• CMG Mortgage acquires Homebridge Financial’s retail mortgage business

Source: NationalMortgageProfessional.com part of a long-term strategy.

That’s according to Terry Schmidt, who serves both as president of Guild and as a director of Guild Holdings Co. Schmidt is one of three women who hold key executive positions with Guild, joining McGarry, the CEO, and Amber Kramer, the company’s senior vice president and chief financial officer. (As of June 30, Schmidt will become CEO upon McGarry’s announced retirement. Chief Operations Officer David Neylan will become president.)

All three have had long careers with the company. McGarry has been with Guild since 1984, when she joined as an internal audit supervisor, and has been CEO since December 2007. Schmidt joined Guild in 1985 as a member of its audit department, and has been president since August 2020. Kramer signed on in 2004 and held various senior executive positions before being named CFO in August 2020.

‘WE PLAN TO WIN’

That continuity allows Schmidt to discuss Guild’s growth strategy from a decadeslong perspective.

“We’re really focused [over] the last … 15-20 years on just being a retail franchise operator,” she said. “So we’ve stayed in having a local presence in branches and offices all over the United States. … There’s still so much opportunity in local markets out there, and we do really well in smaller communities … where we get really involved in giving back. We just feel like there’s a lot more opportunity with great small companies that could be available to us.”

She continued, “And when they come to Guild, it’s a win-win for both organizations. We add a lot more value related to the value and the size, and they can still continue to operate their business and grow in our platform.”

Schmidt said Guild views the downturn in the housing market as cyclical, and that it still represents “an opportunistic timeframe for us.” While 2020 and 2021 were incredibly profitable years for the industry, she said, “we feel like now is a better opportunity that we’ve had in the last couple of years.”

She noted that, during those two years, “everybody was so busy just trying to keep ahead of their pipelines. It’s a little bit slower right now, but this is the time to really think about acquiring companies and continuing to just grow organically and get talent.”

As of Dec. 31, 2022, the company reported employing a total of 4,000 people, down from 5,100 a year earlier.

It also reduced compensation for its top executives last year. According to a proxy statement filed with the SEC, McGarry’s overall compensation in 2022 was reduced by 46.1% to $1.741 million; Schmidt received $1.565 million in compensation last year, a 34.5% cut. Guild is set up to grow, Schmidt said, because it has the capital to make acquisitions. As of Dec. 31, 2022, the company had $162.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $78.9 billion in unpaid principal balance (UPB) for its servicing portfolio.

“Now is a good time to be an investor, to invest in your future, and that’s what we’re doing,” she said. “A lot of companies aren’t in that situation and don’t have the ability to do that. … We’ve been pretty disciplined about that over the years, so that when we’re in times like this, we’ve got capital available to be able to take advantage of the dislocation in the market.”

Schmidt added that, earlier this year, Guild held a “sales rally” at which she told the staff that the company plans to continue to double down on acquisitions in the market.

“I said, ‘There’s going to be winners and losers, and we plan to win.’” n

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