Essent Guaranty, which wrote its first mortgage insurance policy in the second quarter, said it has lined up $100 million of fresh capital, bringing its total equity commitments to $600 million.
The Radnor, Pa-based MI declined to identify its new investors, though a spokeswoman for the company said some of its initial investors -- a group that includes Pine Brook Road Partners, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, PartnerRe, and RenaissanceRe Ventures Ltd. -- supplied commitments for the second capital raise.
"At least one new investor is involved," said the spokeswoman. Essent is licensed in all 50 states and has approvals for coverage from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which control 70% of the origination market.
Although Essent is finally writing policies after a two-year startup period, it declined to provide any details on how many policies it has written or its policies-in-force.
The MI business has suffered tremendously during the housing downturn with not only the PIF number declining but with at least one firm going out of business, Triad Guaranty of Winston-Salem, N.C.
With Essent's entry into the MI space there are now seven firms actively writing policies. At least one other new MI firm is in the process of forming.
