Deals Perking In M&A Market.(Mergers and Acquisitions )(Brief Article)

Rising interest rates were supposed to revive the market for mortgage servicing rights in the new year but, so far, activity has been light.

Topic "A" among servicing professionals currently is Cendant Mortgage Corp., Mt. Laurel, N.J., a top-10, $135 billion servicer, whose parent company, sources say, is pondering the idea of selling it.

"The origination, servicing and relocation businesses are for sale," said one executive familiar with the matter, but he noted that there is not yet a "book" out on the company.

As Mortgage Servicing News went to press this month, Cendant had not commented on the sale rumors and there was still no offering book out on the company. (Its investment banker is Goldman Sachs & Co.)

Sources note that Cendant's parent may have been making discreet inquiries, just to test the waters, without having any firm plans to actually sell.

The biggest impediment to the secondary market for servicing rights taking off is interest rates.

Mortgage rates ...