News

New Residential Investment Corp has agreed to invest in Covius Holdings Inc, a provider of technology-enabled services for the financial services industry. No financial terms were disclosed. Covius is backed by Aquiline Capital Partners.

PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK & DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–New Residential Investment Corp. (NYSE:NRZ, “New Residential”) announced today that it has entered into agreements to make a strategic investment in Covius Holdings Inc. (“Covius”), a leading provider of technology-enabled services to the financial services industry. These services include: settlement and title, document and letter fulfillment, regulatory compliance, quality assurance, commercial and residential loan due diligence and business process automation. Covius is actively expanding its services into other product categories of importance to the mortgage industry and intends to use the proceeds from the investment to support strategic acquisitions and various other growth initiatives.

Following the investment, New Residential will own a minority stake in Covius, with an option to increase its ownership position through specified future investments. Aquiline Capital Partners, a New York and London-based private equity firm investing in financial services and technology, has been Covius’ majority shareholder since 2014 and will continue to be following the transaction. The closing of the transaction is subject to satisfaction of certain closing conditions.

“We are excited to announce today’s partnership with Covius and Aquiline and take our first step into mortgage technology solutions,” said Michael Nierenberg, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of New Residential. “With this transaction, we are making a strategic investment in one of the leading providers of services that are important to our businesses and to the broader mortgage market. As the need for technology in the mortgage industry grows in focus and significance, this investment represents progress in New Residential’s efforts to drive innovation and create additional value from our mortgage investment portfolio. Covius has a distinguished track-record of providing leading and trusted services to its customers and we look forward growing the partnership for the long-term benefit of our shareholders.”

Rob Clements, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Covius added: “For the past 18 months, our strategy has been to build an end-to-end suite of technology-enabled services—both organically and through strategic acquisitions. Our ability to attract a sophisticated investor like New Residential reflects the soundness of our strategy and the quality of our offerings. We intend to use this capital to further enhance our offerings, invest in our technology platform and pursue complementary acquisitions.”

ABOUT NEW RESIDENTIAL
New Residential focuses on opportunistically investing in, and actively managing, investments principally related to residential real estate. New Residential primarily targets investments in mortgage servicing related assets and other related opportunistic investments. New Residential is organized and conducts its operations to qualify as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) for federal income tax purposes. New Residential is managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC, a global investment management firm.

ABOUT COVIUS
Covius is a trusted provider of services, insight and technology to leading financial companies. Covius’ technology-enabled solutions deliver operational efficiencies, mitigate risk and empower confident, compliant decisions and borrower interactions. Covius businesses are recognized leaders in quality assurance, regulatory compliance, compliant document services, comprehensive settlement services, lien and title curative solutions, as well as rapid development, customizable cloud-based business process solutions. The company was recently named one of HousingWire’s 2019 Tech 100 winners. Covius Holdings is a portfolio company of Aquiline Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm investing in financial services. For more information about the company and its services, visit www.covius.com.

ABOUT AQUILINE CAPITAL PARTNERS
Aquiline Capital Partners, founded in 2005 and based in New York and London, is a private equity firm investing in businesses across the financial services sector in banking and credit, insurance, investment management, and financial technology and services. For more information about Aquiline, its investment professionals, and its portfolio companies, please visit: www.aquiline.com.