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Assurant acquires Green Tree Insurance Agency from Tampa-based Walter Investment Management Corp.

 
Walter Investment Management CEO Anthony Renzi is selling off part of the troubled Tampa finance company. [Company photo]
Walter Investment Management CEO Anthony Renzi is selling off part of the troubled Tampa finance company. [Company photo]
Published Jan. 4, 2017

TAMPA — Long-troubled mortgage banking firm Walter Investment Management Corp. is selling off its insurance business to Assurant, Inc. for $125 million.

The stock purchase agreement includes the sale of stock related to GTI Holdings Corp., which is the holding company of Walter's licensed insurance agency, Green Tree Insurance Agency, Inc. The sale comes after shares of Walter tumbled 67 percent in 2016 to make it the worst-performing local stock of the year.

Previous coverage: Best and worst Tampa Bay stocks of 2016

"We are pleased to have executed the SPA with Assurant relating to the sale of our insurance business. This transaction is expected to reduce the complexity of our business operations and allow us to better focus on our process efficiency efforts to improve the performance of our core servicing and originations businesses," Anthony N. Renzi, CEO and president of Walter Investment Management Corp., said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing our relationship with Assurant."

Under the agreement, Assurant will make potential future payments to Walter up to $25 million.

Walter Investment Management, which is focused on servicing residential loans and reserve loans, has about 5,000 employees.

Shares of Walter Investment closed Wednesday at $5.05 apiece, up 2 percent.