United Wholesale Mortgage goes public with $16B valuation

Lender will merge with Gores Holdings IV in biggest SPAC deal ever

United Wholesale Mortgage Mat Ishbia and Gores Holdings IV CEO Alec Gores (Photos via United Wholesale Mortgage and Gores)
United Wholesale Mortgage Mat Ishbia and Gores Holdings IV CEO Alec Gores (Photos via United Wholesale Mortgage and Gores)

United Wholesale Mortgage is merging with Gores Holdings IV, a special-purpose acquisition company, and preparing to go public in the biggest SPAC deal ever recorded.

The deal will allow the lender to public at a valuation of more than $16 billion, setting a record for this type of blank-check deal, the Wall Street Journal reported.

United Wholesale Mortgage will take a 94 percent stake in the new company. The deal will infuse the lender with up to $925 million, which will be invested into the firm and used for transaction expenses.

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Gores Group was founded by Alec Gores in 1987. It bought Hostess Brands in 2015 through its first SPAC and has since purchased three additional companies ahead of the United Wholesale Mortgage deal. It raised $425 million in a public listing in January.

United Wholesale Mortgage works with independent brokers to service mortgages. The company is on track to underwrite nearly $200 billion worth of mortgages this year, up from $108 billion in 2019. [WSJ] — Sasha Jones