Houlihan Lokey Advises Navient Corp.

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Navient Corp. (NASDAQ:NAVI) has transferred its student loan servicing contract with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and associated operations to Maximus Inc. (NYSE:MMS). The transaction closed in October 2021.

Navient is a leading provider of education loan management and processing solutions for education, healthcare, and government clients. Until its exit, Navient had been one of the larger servicers of ED’s federal student loan portfolio since it was awarded the ED contract in 2009.

Maximus provides business process management expertise, innovation, and technology solutions to help government agencies run effective, efficient, and accountable programs. The company is a responsible and reliable contracting partner to governments with the mission of "helping government serve the people." In addition, Maximus has operated ED’s default collections platform since 2014 and was also selected for ED’s Next Generation Business Process Operations (BPO) contract.

The transaction transferred Navient’s servicing contract via a novation and was designed to ensure a smooth transition for the approximately 5.6 million impacted ED loan borrowers ($221 billion of loans) and 700 transferring employees. Going forward, Navient will focus on its growth businesses in consumer lending and business processing solutions. Meanwhile, Maximus looks forward to furthering its strong track record of supporting ED through its expansion into federally owned student loan servicing.

Houlihan Lokey served as exclusive financial advisor to Navient.