Newcastle Acquires $310M Portfolio of Manufactured Home Loans

NEW YORK, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE: NCT) today announced the acquisition of an approximately $310 million portfolio of seasoned mortgage loans.

The portfolio consists of approximately 7,600 mortgage loans. The loans are secured by manufactured homes located throughout the U.S. The weighted average coupon is 9.06% and the loans are approximately 47 months seasoned with an average remaining term of 256 months. The current weighted average FICO score of the borrowers is over 700. All of the loans were current at the time of purchase.

The acquisition is initially funded with $233 million of one-year debt provided by two investment banks. The Company expects to long-term finance this investment in the upcoming months.

Kenneth M. Riis, Newcastle’s President, commented, “In the current investment environment, we continue to find attractive investment opportunities to deploy capital. We believe this investment offers excellent risk adjusted returns as we continue to grow and diversify our balance sheet.”

Newcastle Investment Corp. invests in real estate securities and other real estate-related assets. Newcastle is organized and conducts its operations to qualify as a real estate investment trust (REIT) for federal income tax purposes. For more information on Newcastle Investment Corp. and to be added to our email distribution list, please visit www.newcastleinv.com.

Certain items in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements relating to the ultimate return characteristics of the loan portfolio and ability to finance the portfolio on a long-term basis. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements; Newcastle can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Newcastle’s expectations include, but are not limited to, changes in performance of the underlying loans, changes in the capital markets which would affect the ability to finance the portfolio, and other risks detailed from time to time in Newcastle’s SEC reports. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Newcastle expressly disclaims any obligation to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations with regard thereto or change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.