Quicken Loans May Be Readying IPO

Mortgage lender Quicken Loans, one of the largest lenders in the United States, might be planning to go public, CNBC reported on Thursday (June 11).

The company has filed its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus in secret, although it may become public next month, according to sources interviewed by CNBC.

The target valuation hasn’t been decided, although it could be in the tens of billions of dollars, and Quicken Loans is working with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan on managing the deal, the sources said.

The value could be one of the largest IPOs filed in 2020, although the year’s IPO selection has been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic as companies seek to avoid risks.

Recently, though, debuts from Warner Music Group, Vroom and ZoomInfo have done very well on their first days of trading, and the IPO market seems to be crawling back to life, as more companies begin to feel encouraged to take the leap to go public.

Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner said in mid-April on CNBC that the company had its biggest closing month in its history in March, with almost $21 billion in mortgages closed, and that the company was looking at a possible $75 billion in mortgage applications for the second quarter.

The company was started by Dan Gilbert, a Detroit billionaire and now the chairman and majority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Gilbert has been credited with revitalizing Detroit, and joined Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates’ “Giving Pledge” to donate most of their wealth to charity.

Mortgage rates set a new record low Thursday due to falling interest rates. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 2.97 percent, according to Mortgage News Daily.

As that has been going on, home sales have increased by 0.6 percent since April of this year, though they were down 6 percent since April of 2019.