WinTrust Enters Deal with PMP, Hires PMP Exec

WinTrust Financial Corp., Lake Forest, Ill., has acquired certain assets and assumed certain liabilities of the Downers Grove, Ill.-based Professional Mortgage Partners' mortgage banking business and named PMP's president to an executive post within WinTrust's mortgage subsidiary. WinTrust said a "significant portion" of the cash transaction's purchase price is conditional based upon "certain future profitability measures. The Lake Forest, Ill.-based company also said the deal is not expected to have a material effect on its 2008 or 2009 earnings per share. PMP president Barton Pitts has been named executive vice president of Wintrust Mortgage Corp. as part of the transaction. Terms of the deal were not otherwise disclosed. "The addition of the staff hired from PMP and their offices will create one of the strongest mortgage lenders in the Chicago area," said David Hrobon, president of Wintrust Mortgage Corp. "Combined we will have more than 500 employees, 27 retail offices and, based on historical results, almost $3 billion in annual mortgage originations."