SPS Wins Thornburg Servicing, P-Mac Comes in Second

Select Portfolio Services, Salt Lake City, has agreed to pay roughly 77 basis points for an $11 billion package of jumbo servicing rights belonging to the bankrupt Thornburg Mortgage. According to a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Thornburg, PennyMac — the vulture fund managed by former Countrywide president Stanford Kurland — came in second and was declared the "back-up" bidder. SPS, a subsidiary of Credit Suisse, ranks first among all subprime subservicers in the nation, according to figures compiled by the Quarterly Data Report. In agreeing to buy the Thornburg receivables for roughly $85 million, SPS said it would continue to use Cenlar as the subservicer of the loans. At press time, both SPS and PennyMac had not returned telephone calls about the auction. Interactive Mortgage Advisors was the investment banker on the deal. Thornburg filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2009. A publicly traded REIT, it was once one of the largest lender/servicers in the jumbo and "super" jumbo market.