NewRez parent Rithm Capital preps note offering

Rithm Capital has announced a 144A senior note deal that could help NewRez's corporate parent manage its balance sheet.

Rithm, which owns a large-scale servicing and lending operation via NewRez, has announced a $500 million note offering for qualified institutional buyers that may be used to repay secured debt.

The unsecured debt offering received a speculative-grade B-minus rating from S&P Global analysts who wrote that they viewed the move positively in terms of its potential to reduce encumbered assets and lower margin-call risk but said that they rated the debt one notch below the company's issuer rating due to certain high ratios the company has.

"This is because we expect Rithm's priority debt to remain above 30% of adjusted assets and its unencumbered assets-to-unsecured debt ratio to remain well above the covenant limit of 1.2x," the analysts wrote in a press release issued Monday.

The market has held an unusual and potentially temporary opportunity for debt transactions recently, CEO Michael Nierenberg said during the company's first quarter earnings call.

"Debt looks very, very attractive to us," he said.

Additional cap markets developments

Meanwhile, the parent company for MBS Highway, a mortgage-backed securities information platform for originators and real estate professionals, confirmed HousingWire reports it is exploring strategic options.

"We were approached," a spokesperson said when asked about this, noting that the company will "always listen" to a pitch.

"However there is nothing in the works nor are we openly looking to do anything," the spokesperson added.

In other news, builder and mortgage banker NVR recently announced new authorization to repurchase up to $750 million in outstanding common stock with no expiration date.

"The purchases will occur from time to time on the open market and/or in privately negotiated transactions as market conditions permit," the company said in a press release.