W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital LLC, Centennial, Colo., has acquired Legacy Group Lending Inc., Bellevue, Wash., its 23 branch offices, its operations center and over 300 employees, expanding its presence in the Pacific Northwest. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In 2012, W.J. Bradley originated $6.4 billion in residential mortgage loans and the Legacy Group originated $1.6 billion.
By company, W.J. Bradley had the third-most loan officers in the
William J. Bradley, CEO of W.J. Bradley, said in an interview its roll-up strategy of other mortgage companies, including midsize firms like Legacy is something his firm has been doing for some time.
Having top producers in an organization is one of the attractions, he said, noting “production is a proxy for capability. It is a proxy for professionalism and an originator that knows how to conduct him or herself.
“At the same time, we have to look at entire company. We have to look at the integrity of the principals, we have to look at the culture and if it is a good fit for us.”
W.J. Bradley then also looks at the market the company operates in and whether it makes sense from an economic standpoint, a loan quality standpoint and a loan marketability standpoint.
Legacy gives W.J Bradley an anchor in the Pacific Northwest region, something it did not have before. In general, Bradley said company strategy is to establish that anchor and then expand its operations around it. It will do the same thing in Seattle, he said.
Most of W.J. Bradley’s operations are in the Western part of the country. Thus it felt it needed to have a presence in the Pacific Northwest for a variety of reasons.
The operation center is “a nice pick up for us. As we continue to grow on the production side, it is important we have the ability to scale operationally,” Bradley said.
Legacy’s management team will remain aboard. Coming into the transaction W.J. Bradley had more than 80 branches; the deal will bring it over 100 offices and a headcount in the area of 1,800 people.
W.J. Bradley has been very active in doing these transactions, with Bradley saying, “I don’t know of anybody that does more deals than we do. It is a concerted part of our growth strategy.”
It is not about doing a certain number of deals, he continued. There has to be a fit, geographically, culturally and in terms of production. It will do one or two sizeable deals per year and augment that with a number of smaller transactions throughout the year.
But most importantly, he added, it is the quality of the people joining his firm, and Bradley was very pleased with the quality of the Legacy management team and the people from that firm he has interacted with in the process.
One can always look at the objective reasons for doing a transaction, but for W.J. Bradley, the subjective evaluation of the principals, the culture and the fit is “go or no go aspect of the deal,” he said.
