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A fund owned by Bayview Asset Management will acquire all outstanding shares of Guild Holdings Company’s common stock — excluding those it already owns — for $1.3 billion in cash, the companies announced on Wednesday.
The deal will result in Guild exiting the public markets and becoming a private entity, operating independently but in partnership with Bayview’s servicing company, Lakeview Loan Servicing. The company’s talks became public in late May.
Guild’s shares were trading at $15.72 prior to the deal announcement but are now approaching $20, the amount shareholders will receive in cash for each share they hold. The board of directors also intends to approve a special cash dividend of up to $0.25 in 2025, or $0.25 per quarter through the consummation of the merger if it does not close in 2025.
The transaction, which is not subject to any financial conditions, requires no further action from Guild shareholders. It has already been approved by McCarthy Capital Mortgage Investors and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, pending customary closing conditions.
Executives at Guild, a pure distributed retail mortgage lender, will remain in place, and the company will retain its brand. Guild originated $5.2 billion in mortgages in the first quarter of 2025, ranking as the 15th-largest U.S. mortgage lender.
The deal “creates one of the strongest and most compelling mortgage origination and servicing ecosystems in the nation,” said Guild CEO Terry Schmidt in a statement. “Our expertise in distributed retail origination, retained servicing, and the customer-for-life balanced business model makes this a complementary partnership that has powerful potential for growth and innovation.”
Guild’s servicing portfolio stood at $94.0 billion in unpaid principal balance as of March 31. While Guild ranked as the 25th-largest servicer in the country in the first quarter, Bayview ranked second, with a $770 billion portfolio. The data, from Inside Mortgage Finance, reflects only owned servicing assets.
Before the transaction, Bayview owned 7.3% of Guild’s Class A common stock but held less than 1% of the total voting power of Guild’s outstanding common stock. The asset, however, has underperformed: in the first quarter of 2025, Guild reported a net loss of $23.9 million, compared to net income of $28.5 million in Q1 2024.
“With each company’s different strengths and areas of expertise, this collaboration will form one of the most dynamic mortgage origination and servicing platforms in the industry,” Juan Gonzalez, managing director and CEO of Lakeview Originations, said in a statement.
Guild hired Morgan Stanley & Co. as its exclusive financial advisor, while Goldman Sachs & Co. advised Bayview on the transaction.
M&A deals have increased recently, with the most prominent being Rocket Companies’ $9.4 billion agreement to acquire Mr. Cooper Group, the largest servicer and subservicer in the country. Prior to that, Mr. Cooper acquired Home Point Capital, Roosevelt Management Company and Flagstar’s servicing assets.
Meanwhile, Two Harbors Investment acquired RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing and Rithm Capital closed a deal for Computershare Mortgage Services, bringing in Specialized Loan Servicing. Meanwhile, UBS sold Select Portfolio Servicing (SPS), to a group of investors led by Sixth Street.