Mortgage lender Better set for Nasdaq debut in test for choppy markets
By Hannah Lang
(Reuters) — SoftBank-backed Better, the digital mortgage lender which hit the headlines in 2021 after laying off 900 employees on Zoom, is set to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Thursday via a merger with a blank-check company, the company said Wednesday.
The listing caps a rocky two years for the company which delayed the deal multiple times amid regulatory scrutiny and slowing mortgage demand, and will test market appetite for home lenders as U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes continue to weigh on the housing market.
The deal will provide Better with an infusion of $550 million from SoftBank (TYO:9984) which it will use to expand its mortgage product offerings in anticipation of a boom in demand for refinancings next year, when rates are expected to start falling, Better executives said.
«We think that this is a really great time for us to be out there, capitalized with an additional $550 million from SoftBank that will enable the company to continue to innovate and serve its customers,» CEO Vishal Garg in an interview.
Shares in the company will trade under the ticker BETR.
The company is going public as U.S. mortgage rates continue to surge, with the popular 30-year fixed rate last week hitting the highest level in more than 21 years. U.S. home builder confidence weakened in August, as mortgage rates and stubbornly high housing prices discouraged prospective buyers.
Better planned to go public via a $6 billion special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with Aurora Acquisition Corp. in 2021, but delayed the deal amid a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inquiry and multiple rounds of layoffs, regulatory filings show.
The SEC last year requested information on Garg's business
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