Supreme Lending to acquire Michigan Mutual: sources

Dallas-based Supreme Lending has reached a deal to acquire Michigan Mutual, Inc. (MiMutual), adding a wholesale platform and a presence in Michigan to its operations, sources told HousingWire.

Founded in 1999, Supreme Lending originated $3.8 billion over the past 12 months, with most of its volume concentrated in Texas, Florida and California, according to mortgage tech platform Modex. Approximately 70% of that production was for purchase loans.

As of Tuesday, the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) listed the company as having 702 sponsored mortgage loan officers and 193 active branches.

Supreme’s chief operating officer Kevin Pezzani later confirmed the transaction—an asset sale—to HousingWire. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Based on historical production, MiMutual could contribute roughly $860 million in annual volume to Supreme’s business, according to InGenius.

“We’re really interested in their retail business, that’s what attracted us to the organization from the get go,” Pezzani said in an interview. “The people and their reputation and the market that they are in—they have a really good Michigan footprint, which is something that we don’t really have.”

Pezzani said that MiMutual runs a mix of distributed retail and P&L branches. He expects executives at MiMutual to join Supreme but declined to comment on their new roles or how many LOs he expected to join.

Pezzani declined to answer additional questions related to the transaction, saying details were still being finalized.

According to sources, MiMutual’s retail platform isn’t nearly as robust as its wholesale business, where it competes against local titans United Wholesale Mortgage and Rocket Mortgage. NMLS data shows Michigan Mutual currently sponsors 69 loan officers and operates 18 active branches.

Though Pezzani said Supreme is focused on the retail component, they’d potentially “dip their toes” in the wholesale lending waters with the acquisition of MiMutual.

Rick Roque, vice president of growth at NFM Lending and a consultant at Menlo, who worked at MiMutual from 2016-2018 to help expand its retail platform, said while the company has always struggled with growing this part of the business, it has remained to be a “strong mid-market boutique wholesale lender.”

“The acquisition does not surprise me at all, as it helps build out Supreme’s retail platform, and it puts them on the map in a serious way for wholesale,” Roque said. “The two organizations combined will continue on a very favorable trajectory.” 

The deal will result in Supreme Lending taking over MiMutual’s infrastructure, policies, procedures, and other elements.

Supreme Lending employees traveled to Port Huron, Michigan—where MiMutual is headquartered—on Wednesday for the official announcement of the deal.