Note 1 – Organization

On September 26, 2018, Sutherland Asset Management Corporation filed Articles of Amendment to its charter (the “Articles of Amendment”) with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation of Maryland, to change its name to Ready Capital Corporation (the “Company” or “Ready Capital” and together with its subsidiaries “we”, “us” and “our”), a Maryland corporation.

In connection with the name change, the Company’s trading symbol on the New York Stock Exchange changed from “SLD” to “RC” for shares of the Company’s common stock.

The Company is externally managed and advised by Waterfall Asset Management, LLC (“Waterfall” or the “Manager”), an investment advisor registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, as amended.

Sutherland Partners, LP (the “Operating Partnership”) holds substantially all of our assets and conducts substantially all of our business. As of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, the Company owned approximately 97.6% and 96.5%, of the operating partnership units (“OP units”) of the Operating Partnership, respectively. The Company, as sole general partner of the Operating Partnership, has responsibility and discretion in the management and control of the Operating Partnership, and the limited partners of the Operating Partnership, in such capacity, have no authority to transact business for, or participate in the management activities of the Operating Partnership. Therefore, the Company consolidates the Operating Partnership.

The Company is a multi-strategy real estate finance company that originates, acquires, finances and services small to medium balance commercial (“SBC”) loans, Small Business Administration (“SBA”) loans, residential mortgage loans, and to a lesser extent, mortgage backed securities (“MBS”) collateralized primarily by SBC loans, or other real estate-related investments.

SBC loans represent a special category of commercial loans, sharing both commercial and residential loan characteristics. SBC loans are generally secured by first mortgages on commercial properties, but because SBC loans are also often accompanied by collateralization of personal assets and subordinate lien positions, aspects of residential mortgage credit analysis are utilized in the underwriting process.

The Company reports its results of operations through the following four business segments: i) Loan Acquisitions, ii) SBC Originations, iii) SBA Originations, Acquisitions and Servicing, and iv) Residential Mortgage Banking, with the remaining amounts recorded in Corporate- Other. Our acquisition and origination platforms consist of the following four operating segments:

Loan Acquisitions. We acquire performing and non-performing SBC loans as part of our business strategy. We hold performing SBC loans to term, and we seek to maximize the value of the non-performing SBC loans acquired by us through borrower based resolution strategies. We typically acquire non-performing loans at a discount to their unpaid principal balance (“UPB”) when we believe that resolution of the loans will provide attractive risk-adjusted returns.

SBC Originations. We originate SBC loans secured by stabilized or transitional investor properties using multiple loan origination channels through our wholly-owned subsidiary, ReadyCap Commercial, LLC (“RCC”). Additionally, as part of this segment, we originate and service multi-family loan products under the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac” and the “Freddie Mac program”). These originated loans are generally held-for-investment or placed into securitization structures.

SBA Originations, Acquisitions, and Servicing. We acquire, originate and service owner-occupied loans guaranteed by the SBA under its Section 7(a) loan program (the “SBA Section 7(a) Program”) through our wholly-owned subsidiary, ReadyCap Lending, LLC (“RCL”). We hold an SBA license as one of only 14 non-bank Small Business Lending Companies (“SBLCs”) and have been granted preferred lender status by the SBA. In the future, we may originate SBC loans for real estate under the SBA 504 loan program, under which the SBA guarantees subordinated, long-term financing. These originated loans are either held-for-investment, placed into securitization structures, or sold.

Residential Mortgage Banking. In connection with our merger with ZAIS Financial (“Zais Merger”) on October 31, 2016, we added a residential mortgage loan origination segment through our wholly-owned subsidiary, GMFS, LLC ("GMFS"). GMFS originates residential mortgage loans eligible to be purchased, guaranteed or insured by the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”), Freddie Mac, Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”), U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) through retail, correspondent and broker channels. These originated loans are then sold to third parties.

On March 29, 2019, the Company completed the acquisition of Owens Realty Mortgage, Inc. (“ORM”), through a merger of ORM with and into a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, in exchange for approximately 12.2 million shares of the Company’s common stock (“ORM Merger”). In accordance with the Merger Agreement, the number of shares of the Company’s common stock issued was based on an exchange ratio of 1.441 per share. The total purchase price for the merger of $179.3 million consists exclusively of the Company’s common stock issued in exchange for shares of ORM common stock and cash paid in lieu of fractional shares of the Company’s common stock, and was based on the $14.67 closing price of the Company’s common stock on March 29, 2019. Upon the closing of the transaction, the Company’s historical stockholders owned approximately 72% of the combined company’s stock, while historical ORM stockholders owned approximately 28% of the combined company’s stock.

The acquisition of ORM increased the Company’s equity capitalization, supported continued growth of the Company’s platform and execution of the Company’s strategy, and provided the Company with improved scale, liquidity and capital alternatives, including additional borrowing capacity. Also, the stockholder base resulting from the acquisition of ORM enhanced the trading volume and liquidity for our stockholders and supported a greater level of institutional investor interest in our businesses. The combination of the Company and ORM has created cost savings and efficiencies over time resulting from the allocation of operating expenses over a larger portfolio and has allowed the Company to harvest value from ORM's real property assets.

The Company qualifies as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”), commencing with its first taxable year ended December 31, 2011. To maintain its tax status as a REIT, the Company distributes at least 90% of its taxable income in the form of distributions to shareholders.