Mortgage Lender LoanDepot Looks Toward $15B IPO

Five years after LoanDepot ditched plans to go public, the California-based lender, now worth as much as $15 billion, is giving the idea a second look.

The firm, which offers mortgages and other direct-to-consumer loans, is planning an initial public offering (IPO), sources told Bloomberg.

The company has talked with potential investors for an IPO that could come  later this year, the sources told the news outlet.

“We continue to evaluate capital options and are excited about our industry position,” CEO Anthony Hsieh told Bloomberg.

In 2015, LoanDepot announced on its blog that it intended to become a public company and filed Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

But less than a year later, it withdrew the offering.

“The company has determined not to pursue a public offering of the securities covered by the registration statement at this time,” LoanDepot wrote in its filing. “The company believes that the withdrawal of the Registration Statement would be consistent with the public interest and the protection of investors.”

In the company blog at the time, Hsieh said the recent volatility in the stock market, citing rivals LendingClub Corp. the San Francisco-based peer-to peer lending firm and OnDeck Capital, the New York-based online small business lending company, which went public at the time were already trading down, Housing Wire reported.

As a result, it appeared LoanDepot was poised to sell shares below its target price, the news service reported.

The Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts $3 trillion in new mortgages this year, up 37 percent from 2019. But lenders are bracing for a crush of foreclosures as a one-year mortgage payment reprieve ordered by the CARES Act expires in the first quarter of 2021.

Founded in 2010 by Hsieh, LoanDepot calls itself the nation’s second largest nonbank lender and fifth largest retail mortgage lender and has funded more than $248 billion since inception. Its nationwide workforce of more than 8,000 who assist more than 25,000 customers monthly.

Quicken Loans Inc., the parent company of Rocket Cos., is the nation’s largest retail mortgage lender.