Municipal Mortgage and Equity, better known as MuniMae, has sold its agency multifamily loan operations to Oak Grove Commercial Mortgage, LLC, for about $70 million.
The sale, announced in late December, capped a difficult year for the Baltimore-based MuniMae. The company was de-listed by the New York Stock Exchange in February, and in a recent SEC filing, the company said the sale of its agency business was necessary to repay its debts. The company has also struggled with ongoing accounting irregularities and has yet to restate its 2004 and 2005 financial statements.
The acquisition has an ironic twist. Oak Grove is a newly formed subsidiary of Mud Duck Equities, LLC, and is run by Kevin Filter and David Williams. Filter and Williams once headed Glaser Financial Group, which MuniMae acquired in 2005 for about $67 million.
Despite its recent troubles, MuniMae was a top agency lender for the multifamily industry, originating about $875 million of agency loans through the first three quarters of 2008. In addition to its Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) licenses, MuniMae’s affordable housing division, called MMA Financial, was one of only eight lenders participating in Freddie Mac’s Targeted Affordable Housing program.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHA will have to approve the deal before the acquisition can be completed. But that shouldn’t be a problem considering that Glaser Financial once held all three agency licenses.
The acquisition amounts to a little more than $70 million. MuniMae received a $10 million bridge loan in mid-December from Oak Grove. When the sale closes, that debt will be forgiven, and an additional $13.5 million will be delivered to MuniMae in cash. MuniMae will then get a $47 million preferred interest in Oak Grove.
