Sallie Mae acquires Michigan mortgage banker
By MortgageDaily.com staff
4/3/2003

The leading provider of student loans is getting deeper into the mortgage business.

SLM Corp. -- or Sallie Mae as it is more commonly known -- completed the acquisition of Pioneer Mortgage, according to an announcement Wednesday. Pioneer is a Novi, Michigan-based mortgage banker operating in Arizona and Michigan. Sallie said the acquisition extends the fee-based, mortgage-banking services provided by it's SLM Financial Corporation subsidiary.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Sallie purchased First Trust Financial, a mortgage banker operating in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, in December 2002, according to the announcement.

"This addition completes the geographic reach and sales network we targeted in our business plan," said Ray Matteucci, president of SLM Financial Consumer Group.

Sallie Mae opened its doors in May 1973 as a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) called the Student Loan Marketing Association. The company began the privatization process in 1997 and says it will phase out its GSE status by 2006. The Reston, Virginia lender says it currently manages $78 billion in student loans.

Pioneer closed its first loan in 1992, and says it has funded $4.5 billion in loans since. The company reports that it has closed more than 20,000 loans and has more than 100 employees. In 1999 and 2002, Pioneer said it was named to Inc. Magazine's Inc. 500 -- a list of the country's fastest growing private firms.

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