MetLife To Acquire First Horizon Mortgage Unit

By Staff Writer

June 04, 2008 at 02:16 PM

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The banking arm of a financial services giant has announced one acquisition agreement hours after completing a second deal.

MetLife Bank N.A., Bridgewater, N.J., a subsidiary of MetLife Inc., New York, says it has agreed to acquire the residential mortgage origination and servicing business of First Tennessee Bank National Association, a unit of First Horizon National Corp., Memphis, Tenn.

The acquisition includes all of the origination business outside of Tennessee and servicing assets associated with about $20 billion of first lien mortgage loans, according to MetLife Bank.

MetLife Bank also would enter into a sub-servicing agreement for the rest of First Horizon's first lien servicing portfolio, or about $65 billion in loans, and it would get about 230 retail and wholesale offices.

"MetLife Bank will not be assuming any subprime or Alt-A mortgages as part of this acquisition," the bank says.

MetLife announced Tuesday that it had completed previously announced plans to acquire EverBank Reverse Mortgage L.L.C., Bloomfield, N.J., from EverBank Financial Corp., Jacksonville, Fla., and make the reverse mortgage operation part of its own MetLife Bank subsidiary.

Combined with the EverBank deal, the First Tennessee deal "positions MetLife Bank to be a leader in the origination and servicing of mortgage products," says Donna DeMaio, president of MetLife Bank.

MetLife hopes to complete the First Tennessee deal by Sept. 30.

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