Mortgage Insurer Radian Group Held Deal Talks With Investor Group

(Bloomberg) -- Mortgage insurer Radian Group Inc. was in takeover talks with an investor group including Apollo Global Management LLC and Centerbridge Partners LP as recently as last week, before discussions stalled over the terms of a potential deal, according to people familiar with the matter.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which owns 2.4 percent of Radian, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, was also part of the group, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. It’s unclear whether the talks could be revived, the people said.

Representatives for Apollo, Canada Pension and Radian declined to comment. Centerbridge didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Radian rose 8.3 percent to $21.20 at 12:15 p.m. in New York trading Friday, giving the company a market value of about $4.5 billion. Its shares had fallen about 9 percent over the past 12 months before rising Friday on the news of the sale discussions.

The talks come amid a pickup in financial services dealmaking in the U.S., as private equity buyers prowl for undervalued banks, insurers and other industry players looking for scale and diversity. This week, Thoma Bravo announced a $3.7 billion deal for mortgage software provider Ellie Mae Inc., while Morgan Stanley agreed to buy stock-plan administrator Solium Capital Inc. for about $900 million.

Radian helps home lenders mitigate losses by selling insurance that covers home buyers who take out mortgages with down payments of less than 20 percent, according to its website. Its mortgage and real-estate services arm helps financial-services firms and governments evaluate and securitize loans and asset-backed securities.

--With assistance from Scott Deveau.

To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Monks in New York at mmonks1@bloomberg.net;Kiel Porter in New York at kporter17@bloomberg.net;Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.