SWANSEA – BayCoast Bank last week announced the acquisition of Priority Funding LLC, a financial-services company based in Northborough, Mass.
The company, which specializes in making loans for manufactured housing, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of BayCoast. The two entities will continue to operate separately, according to Dan Briand, senior vice president of retail lending at BayCoast.
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Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
“This is a highly specialized market,” Briand said. “This niche serves the over-55 market, and has been an area of lending that has presented challenges to manufactured-home buyers,” Briand said. “Not all institutions are eager to lend because the land that these homes are situated on is leased and owned by the borrower.”
Manufactured housing means homes located on leased land in manufactured home parks. Priority, which employs 14 people, serves the New England market along with New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Michigan, according to a press release.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to become part of BayCoast Bank,” said Chris Schofield, Priority co-founder, president and CEO.
The company expects – because of the deal – to expand services to eight additional states in the coming years. BayCoast is based in Swansea.
“We see an opportunity to serve a segment of the market that we believe has been greatly underserved,” Briand said. “We look forward to working with Chris and his team and together we will expand this industry niche.”
Eli Sherman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Sherman@PBN.com, or follow him on Twitter @Eli_Sherman.
