Tricor Mortgage Chief, Looking to Expand, Puts Firm on Market

Hoping to catch the consolidation wave sweeping through the mortgage industry, the owner of Tricor Mortgage Funding--one of Orange County’s fastest-growing home lenders--has put the company up for sale.

Tricor President Anthony Tsieh said Monday he has retained New York investment banker Friedman Billings Ramsey Group to find potential buyers or investors for all or part of his Huntington Beach-based company.

A confidential “information book” about Tricor began circulating recently to interested parties, but no deals have been made, Tsieh said.

The goal, he said, is to link up with a larger financial partner who can pay for an aggressive expansion outside of California, where the company currently does all of its business.

“We want to take Tricor national,” Tsieh said. The lender--best known in Southern California for its freeway billboard ads--recently launched a $2-million marketing campaign in Northern California and plans to expand into Arizona and Nevada this summer.

Tsieh, a Chinese native who came to the United States as a boy, acquired Tricor in 1989 and transformed it from a tiny loan office into a company with 300 employees. Last year, the lender originated $1 billion in loans.

Tricor is the latest Orange County lender to seek the deep pockets of an outside financial partner.

Earlier this month, Costa Mesa-based rival DiTech Funding Corp. reached a deal to sell itself to GMAC Mortgage Corp. for as much as $265 million.

And late last year, Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp. sold a 19% stake to U.S. Bancorp.

The potential price tag for Tricor is unclear. Tsieh said the company is profitable but did not provide details.

The company’s investment advisors said there should be no shortage of potential buyers.

“Throughout the industry, there’s an intense amount of interest in things that can originate assets, such as loans,” said John Nelligan at Friedman Billings.