Houlihan Lokey Advises MAXEX

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that MAXEX has secured a strategic partnership with Atlas Merchant Capital (Atlas Merchant) and South Street Securities Holdings (South Street) to expand liquidity in the highly fragmented U.S. mortgage secondary market. The transaction was signed and closed in June 2023.

MAXEX has received a strategic equity investment led jointly by Atlas Merchant and South Street, which also included participation from several of the company’s existing investors, including J.P. Morgan Strategic Investments and Moore Asset Backed Fund. Additionally, South Street will also provide capital support behind MAXEX’s existing clearinghouse facility, further enhancing MAXEX’s counterparty strength by leveraging South Street’s investment-grade rating and approximately $30 billion balance sheet. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The strategic investments from Atlas Merchant and South Street position MAXEX for significant growth and further solidify the company’s position as an independent mortgage market utility. Additionally, MAXEX, South Street, and Atlas Merchant will collaborate to accelerate industry adoption of MAXEX’s platform while expanding access to MAXEX and South Street’s products and services across the more than 500 market participants currently served by both organizations.

MAXEX is the mortgage industry’s first digital exchange for buying and selling residential mortgage loans through a single, centralized clearinghouse. The company serves a network of mortgage originators, marquee institutional investors, and Wall Street dealers.

South Street is a diversified financial institution offering various financial and technology services through its subsidiaries South Street Securities, LLC; Matrix Applications; South Street Capital Management, LLC; and AmeriVet Securities, Inc. Atlas Merchant is an investment firm headed by Bob Diamond, former CEO of Barclays, with expertise in solving complex challenges in the global financial services industry. Atlas Merchant also has a minority investment in South Street.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to MAXEX and assisted in initiating, marketing, structuring, and negotiating the transaction on its behalf. This transaction highlights Houlihan Lokey’s leading fintech advisory practice and deep domain expertise across the mortgage and capital markets verticals.