Illinois Lender Inks Deal With Investment Fund

United Financial Mortgage Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., a fast growing, publicly traded lender, has agreed to sell its business to the Airlie Group, a private investment fund based in Greenwich, Conn.Airlie affiliates ARH Mortgage and Airlie Opportunity Master Fund have agreed to pay $5.64 a share for UFMC, a 30% premium from its share price when the market closed Sept. 2. National Mortgage News broke the news in its Sept. 5 issue that Airlie was talking to UFMC about a deal. For its fiscal year ending April 30, UFMC funded $2.7 billion in loans. It has 50 branch offices, compared with 35 a year ago. Founded almost 20 years ago, UFMC has a $1.7 billion mortgage servicing portfolio and $258 million in assets, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (See NMN for more details.) UFMC can be found online at http://www.ufmc.com.