TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Walter Investment Management Corp. (NYSE: WAC) ("Walter Investment" or the "Company") today announced the appointment of Vadim Perelman, founder of Baker Street Capital Management, LLC ("Baker Street"), to its Board of Directors (the "Board") effective on December 7, 2015.
"We welcome Vadim to the Walter Investment Board," said Denmar J. Dixon, the Company's Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. "We believe his perspective as a significant shareholder will provide helpful insights to the Board and management team as we work to execute on our strategy and enhance value for all of the Company's shareholders."
In connection with Mr. Perelman's appointment, the Company entered into an agreement with Baker Street pursuant to which Baker Street has agreed to vote all of its stock at the Company's upcoming annual meeting of shareholders in support of each current Class I director nominated by the Board, against any shareholder proposals not approved by the Board as well as to certain customary restrictions during the term of the agreement. The Company also announced that it has amended its existing shareholder rights agreement to permit Baker Street to acquire up to 25% of the Company's outstanding common stock.
The Company had previously announced that the Board planned to identify and appoint a new non-management director and Mr. Perelman's appointment completes that process. With the addition of Mr. Perelman, the Company's Board will be expanded to eleven directors but, as previously announced, is expected to be transitioned to nine members on or before the 2017 annual meeting of shareholders.
The agreement between the Company and Baker Street and the amendment to the Company's existing rights plan will be included as exhibits to a Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Vadim Perelman Biography
Vadim Perelman is the founder, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Baker Street Capital Management, a value-focused investment management firm founded in 2009. Baker Street is headquartered in Los Angeles. Mr. Perelman previously served on the Board of Directors of USA Truck, Inc., Xyratex Ltd., Tix Corporation and Unilens Vision Inc. Mr. Perelman holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
About Walter Investment Management Corp.
Walter Investment Management Corp. is a diversified mortgage banking firm focused primarily on the servicing and origination of residential loans, including reverse loans. Based in Tampa, Fla., the Company has approximately 5,850 employees and services a diverse loan portfolio. For more information about Walter Investment Management Corp., please visit the Company's website at www.walterinvestment.com. The information on our website is not a part of this release.
Disclaimer and Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements that are not historical fact are forward-looking statements. Certain of these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "estimates," "assumes," "may," "should," "will," or other similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors, and our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from future results, performance or achievements expressed in these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs, intentions and expectations. These statements are not guarantees or indicative of future performance. Important assumptions and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those factors, risks and uncertainties described below and in more detail under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2015, June 30, 2015 and September 30, 2015 and in our other filings with the SEC.
In particular (but not by way of limitation), the following important factors, risks and uncertainties could affect our future results, performance and achievements and could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements:
- our ability to operate our business in compliance with existing and future rules and regulations affecting our business, including those relating to the origination and servicing of residential loans, the management of third-party assets and the insurance industry (including lender-placed insurance), and changes to, and/or more stringent enforcement of, such rules and regulations;
- increased scrutiny and potential enforcement actions by federal and state authorities;
- the substantial resources (including senior management time and attention) we devote to, and the significant compliance costs we incur in connection with, regulatory and contractual compliance and regulatory examinations and inquiries, and any consumer redress, fines, penalties or similar payments we make in connection with resolving such matters;
- uncertainties relating to interest curtailment obligations and any related financial and litigation exposure (including exposure relating to false claims);
- potential costs and uncertainties, including the effect on future revenues, associated with and arising from litigation, regulatory investigations and other legal proceedings;
- our dependence on U.S. government-sponsored entities (especially Fannie Mae) and agencies and their residential loan programs and our ability to maintain relationships with, and remain qualified to participate in programs sponsored by, such entities, our ability to satisfy various existing or future GSE, agency and other capital, net worth, liquidity and other financial requirements applicable to our business, and our ability to remain qualified as a GSE approved seller, servicer or component servicer, including the ability to continue to comply with the GSEs' respective residential loan and selling and servicing guides;
- uncertainties relating to the status and future role of GSEs, and the effects of any changes to the origination and/or servicing requirements of the GSEs or various regulatory authorities or the servicing compensation structure for mortgage servicers pursuant to programs of GSEs or various regulatory authorities;
- our ability to maintain our loan servicing, loan origination, insurance agency or collection agency licenses, or any other licenses necessary to operate our businesses, or changes to, or our ability to comply with, our licensing requirements;
- our ability to comply with the servicing standards required by the National Mortgage Settlement;
- our ability to comply with the terms of the stipulated order resolving allegations arising from an FTC and CFPB investigation of Ditech Financial;
- operational risks inherent in the mortgage servicing and mortgage originations businesses, including reputational risk;
- risks related to our substantial levels of indebtedness, including our ability to comply with covenants contained in our debt agreements, generate sufficient cash to service such indebtedness and refinance such indebtedness on favorable terms, as well as our ability to incur substantially more debt;
- our ability to renew advance financing facilities or warehouse facilities and maintain borrowing capacity under such facilities;
- our ability to maintain or grow our servicing business and our residential loan originations business;
- our ability to achieve strategic initiatives, particularly our ability to: raise capital; execute and complete balance sheet management activities; make arrangements with potential capital partners; complete sales of assets to, and enter into other arrangements with, WCO; and develop new business, including acquisitions of MSRs or entering into new sub-servicing arrangements;
- changes in prepayment rates and delinquency rates on the loans we service or sub-service;
- the ability of our clients and credit owners to transfer or otherwise terminate our servicing or sub-servicing rights;
- a downgrade in our servicer ratings or credit ratings;
- our ability to collect reimbursements for servicing advances and earn and timely receive incentive and performance payments and ancillary fees on our servicing portfolio;
- our ability to collect indemnification payments and enforce repurchase obligations relating to mortgage loans we purchase from our correspondent clients and our ability to collect indemnification payments relating to servicing rights we purchase from prior servicers;
- local, regional, national and global economic trends and developments in general, and local, regional and national real estate and residential mortgage market trends in particular, including the volume and pricing of home sales, the credit quality of loan origination customers and uncertainty regarding the levels of mortgage originations and prepayments;
- uncertainty as to the volume of originations activity we will benefit from prior to, and following, the expiration of HARP, which is scheduled to occur on December 31, 2016, including uncertainty as to the number of "in-the-money" accounts we may be able to refinance;
- risks associated with the origination, securitization and servicing of reverse mortgages, including changes to reverse mortgage programs operated by FHA, HUD or Ginnie Mae, our ability to accurately estimate interest curtailment liabilities, continued demand for HECM loans and other reverse mortgages, our ability to fund HECM repurchase obligations, our ability to fund principal additions on our HECM loans, and our ability to securitize our HECM loans and tails;
- our ability to realize all anticipated benefits of past, pending or potential future acquisitions or joint venture investments;
- the effects of competition on our existing and potential future business, including the impact of competitors with greater financial resources and broader scopes of operation;
- changes in interest rates and the effectiveness of any hedge we may employ against such changes;
- risks and potential costs associated with technology and cybersecurity, including: the risks of technology failures and of cyber-attacks against us or our vendors; our ability to adequately respond to actual or alleged cyber-attacks; our ability to implement adequate internal security measures and protect confidential borrower information; and disruptions to our business in connection with the implementation of new technology, the use of new vendors or the transfer of our servers or other infrastructure to new data center facilities;
- our ability to comply with evolving and complex accounting rules, many of which involve significant judgment and assumptions;
- uncertainties regarding impairment charges relating to our goodwill or other intangible assets;
- our ability to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures;
- our ability to manage conflicts of interest relating to our investment in WCO; and
- risks related to our relationship with Walter Energy and uncertainties arising from or relating to its bankruptcy filings, including potential liability for any taxes, interest and/or penalties owed by the Walter Energy consolidated group for the full or partial tax years during which certain of the Company's former subsidiaries were a part of such consolidated group and certain other tax risks allocated to us in connection with our spin-off from Walter Energy.
All of the above factors, risks and uncertainties are difficult to predict and reflect uncertainties that may materially affect actual results and may be beyond our control. New factors, risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for our management to predict all such factors, risks and uncertainties.
Although we believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements (including those relating to our outlook) contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and therefore any of these statements included herein may prove to be inaccurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the results or conditions described in such statements or our objectives and plans will be achieved. We make no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date any such statement is made, except as otherwise required under the federal securities laws. If we were in any particular instance to update or correct a forward-looking statement, investors and others should not conclude that we would make additional updates or corrections thereafter except as otherwise required under the federal securities laws.
In addition, this press release may contain statements of opinion or belief concerning market conditions and similar matters. In certain instances, those opinions and beliefs could be based upon general observations by members of our management, anecdotal evidence and/or our experience in the conduct of our business, without specific investigation or statistical analyses. Therefore, while such statements reflect our view of the industries and markets in which we are involved, they should not be viewed as reflecting verifiable views and such views may not be shared by all who are involved in those industries or markets.
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SOURCE Walter Investment Management Corp.