Fortress Investment Group LLC has closed its Fortress MSR Opportunities Fund II at $1.1 billion on grounds of substantial future opportunities in the residential mortgage servicing rights market.
The firm closed its second round of MSR funds roughly one year after the company closed the Fortress MSR Opportunities Fund I at $608 million in total commitments.
Given the current “transformative period for the servicing market,” said Wes Edens, Fortress co-chairman and head of private equity, the company is looking forward to “substantial opportunities in the coming years,” in the approximately $10 trillion
Fortress has pursued opportunities through a unique co-investment structure in which a dedicated MSR Fund, and Fortress-managed publicly traded real estate investment trust New Residential, invest in a Fortress portfolio serviced by
Executives said Fortress will continue to focus on basic residential MSR contracts that are expected to be profitable for years to come. Fortress and its affiliates have been very active investors in the MSR space over the past two years investing in MSRs with an aggregate underlying unpaid principal balance of over $315 billion.
“As one of the earliest and largest investors in the servicing space,” Edens said, Fortress plans to rely on its experience as owner and operator of major servicing platforms to capitalize on current and future opportunities.
Founded in 1998 Fortress describes itself as “a highly diversified global investment firm” with $56 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2013.
