Pacific Mortgage Group Inc. (Pacific) has announced a $9 million cash + stock offer for Invis, a national mortgage brokerage, and its subsidiary Mortgage Intelligence.
Pacific says the combined entity could post “$15 billion in annual mortgage origination volume” and realize “substantive revenue growth and economies of scale, materially improving bottom line profitability for its owners.”
Here is the full release.
Interestingly, this offer was originally made on March 11. Pacific says its “strong preference” was to “continue to communicate privately” with Invis, but it wanted to ensure the intended offer and its context was disclosed to “all shareholders.”
Invis’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Cameron Strong, dismissed the offer today, stating simply: “We are not for sale at that price. We consider this to be a frivolous offer.”
Pacific is the parent company of Mortgage Architects Inc., a national mortgage brokerage and myNext Mortgage Company Limited.
Well, if nothing else Pacific got some free advertising. Does Pacific even have the 9 million? Oh boy step back and manage what you’ve got boys…
If I was Invis I’d jump at $9 million. I get the sense their ship has sailed.
Agreed. That business and company is not going any where. I personally think that is $8.0 Million dollar more then its worth.
Invis/MI have strong brands and several exceptional brokers. It will be interesting to see how things shake out.
Here’s a CMP piece about support for the deal from a former Invis exec: Link
Fiona Campbell, a former Invis VP, is quoted as saying:
“It is a potentially empowering thing for brokers to have an in-house lender, and not just a white label product behind them.”
“I think this deal would give Pacific and Invis the combined power that comes through economies of scale. For brokers, there’s the opportunity to access new products thorough Pacific’s lending arm and that should help them compete.”
I think this deal looks so much better for Minvis today. It will give them stability and strenght, They need this deal.
Rob, you make a good point about Invis/MI having some excellent long term brokers/agents, some of which are likely shareholders. Although at another brokerage now, perhaps Fiona falls into the category of shareholder and simply wants to cash out. Perhaps a look at the latest financial reports of one of Mr. Haditaghi’s (Pacific CEO) other projects is worth reviewing.
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/110415/mbkr.ob10-k.html
I’m no pro but the profits seem to be going the wrong way for one of his companies that compete in the same space.
Hi Mike,
As a shareholder since 2007 I hear you regarding MBKR’s performance. This is a tough business for brokerages to squeeze a buck out of. Apart from the obvious factors of leadership and splits, two key differentiators are: #1) volume (where the majors like Verico, DLC, etc. have a “scale” edge); and #2) proprietary value-added products (like those of Mortgage Centre for example). I think Alex knows that and his Invis/MI play is Pacific’s measure to address #1. Pacific’s in-house lender, MyNext, reportedly has some initiatives coming later this quarter that may (or may not) address #2. We’ll see.
Cheers…
Rob
As Brokers we make lots of money but that doesnt make us smart!
Invis, Verico, MI, Mortgage Centre and DLC all combined together do over $30.0 Billion dollar in Origination and I can guarantee you they make less then $5.0 Million in total profits! you call this a business?
Everyone knows the real money is in the lender, servicing and other stuff.
Hi Rob,
I could not agree more with your comments. The juice is in being the agent/broker, offering services and offering products. That being said, can long term success be achieved without sound leadership, honesty and integrity? Was releasing an offer to purchase after the offer was flat out declined an action of integrity? I obviously don’t know all of the details but it certainly isn’t a traditional way of doing business. It will be very interesting to see how this all shakes out.
Funny, I use to work with someone that called Invis and MI Minvis but his name wasn’t “JohnS”
Mike