Only one minute after the closing bell on Wednesday, ECN Capital (TSX:ECN) reported that it has penned a definitive agreement to acquire Triad Financial Services, Inc., a privately-owned Jacksonville, Florida-based manufactured homes lender. Established nearly six decades ago, Triad is the oldest manufactured home finance company in the United States.
Per the agreement, ECN will pay US$100.0 million in cash for Triad. Furthermore, senior management of Triad has been offered an incentive compensation plan based upon a predetermined return on average equity of the next five years. In the buyout, expected to close in Q1 2018, Toronto-based ECN gets all Triad's assets, including employees, intellectual property, systems, operations, offices and agreements.
Triad originates prime and super-prime loans to buyers of manufactured homes, with originations stemming from a vast nationwide network of dealers and manufacturers, subsequently selling the loans across their network of credit unions and banks. Triad also serves as a manager of manufactured housing portfolios for third party owners.
According to ECN, the acquisition will be immediately accretive on a pro forma basis upon closing the transaction. A leading North American finance company, ECN had total owned and managed assets of nearly $5.0 billion at the end of the second quarter.
Shares of ECN are up about 18 percent in 2017, closing down by 0.77% on Wednesday at $3.89
