NorthMarq Buys Mortgage Banking Firm

PARSIPPANY, NJ-NorthMarq Capital established a major New Jersey presence late last summer when it acquired the mortgage banking division of Legg Mason Real Estate Services, and now the Minneapolis-based firm has significantly extended that Garden State presence. NorthMarq, ranked as the country’s third biggest real estate investment banking company, has acquired James R. Poole & Co., a 27-year-old mortgage banking firm.

Poole is actually composed to two separate entities, Poole & Co. and a wholly owned subsidiary, Poole Financial Services. The latter oversees a loan portfolio of more than $1 billion, and Poole & Co.’s annual transactional activity is in the $300 million range. The terms of the acquisition were not released.

NorthMarq has an existing regional office here as a result of its deal with Legg Mason last year, and Poole’s offices are also situated here. The two locations are about four miles apart, but company officials have not released information on whether and where the offices might be physically combined.