PONTIAC, Mich.–The biggest wholesale mortgage originator in the United States has announced plans to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a deal that will take it public at a valuation north of $16 billion.
United Wholesale Mortgage said it plans to combine with Gores Holdings, Inc., a SPACE that raised $425 million in a public listing in January, the company said in a release. The deal will make United Wholesale Mortgage a public company listed on Nasdaq, according to the statement.
Gores Group is an investment fund founded by Alec Gores in 1987 that has used SPACS to purchase several companies ahead of its most recently announced deal with United Wholesale Mortgage.
The Gores SPAC will take only a small percentage of the new company in this deal, leaving current United Wholesale Mortgage owners with a 94% stake. Gores, which owns roughly 20% of the SPAC, will have a 0.6% stake in the overall entity when the deal closes, according to the Wall Street Journal.
United Wholesale Mortgage works with independent brokers around the U.S. to underwrite and service mortgages. So far, the company is on track to underwrite nearly $200 billion of mortgages this year, up from roughly $108 billion in 2019, the Journal reported.