American Pacific Mortgage (APM) has closed a merger deal to bring Synergy One Lending under its umbrella as a DBA, creating a mortgage production platform with roughly $14 billion in annual volume, the companies announced Friday.
The combination of the two California-based lenders aims to scale their nationwide retail operations. The merger remains subject to regulatory approvals, and financial terms were not disclosed.
As part of the restructuring, Synergy One CEO Steve Majerus will join APM as president, pending regulatory clearance. Majerus brings decades of leadership experience and a “progressive approach to technology, AI, platform innovation, and production strategy,” the companies said.
Aaron Nemec will maintain his role as president of Synergy One Lending, continuing to lead its daily operations and growth initiatives as it functions as a division of APM.
“Bringing Steve on as president accelerates our vision to modernize the mortgage experience through innovation, technology and a relentless focus on people,” APM CEO Dustin Sheppard said in a statement.
Majerus added that the merger is about gaining the scale needed to invest in pricing, products and customer acquisition in a market being reshaped by consumer expectations and technology.
“APM has built an incredible platform and culture centered around empowering originators, leaders and entrepreneurs,” Majerus said. “This merger gives us the platform to continue innovating and compete in a market shaped by evolving consumer expectations.”
Last year, in a companywide address, Majerus criticized “unscrupulous” recruiters who attempted to poach Synergy One’s loan officers using claims of “financial instability or margin calls and challenges.”
Under the agreement, Synergy One will maintain its brand name through APM’s divisional DBA model, a structure APM has utilized to allow local brands to operate with centralized corporate support. The companies indicated the combination will provide originators with expanded product offerings and stronger infrastructure.
APM is currently licensed in 49 states, employing more than 2,900 people across nearly 300 branches. The company is 49% employee-owned through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Mortgage tech platform RETR shows it has originated about $4.2 billion year to date and has 1,809 licensed LOs.
Meanwhile, Synergy One Lending brings an additional 540 employees and 65 branches across 49 states to the combined entity. It has originated about $1.4 billion year to date and had 349 loan officers as of Friday afternoon, per RETR.
This article was written by Flávia Furlan Nunes and generated with the assistance of HousingWire Automation, then reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication.
