Organization

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Organization

Organization

READY CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO the CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (UNAUDITED)

Note 1. Organization

Ready Capital Corporation (the “Company” or “Ready Capital” and together with its subsidiaries “we”, “us” and “our”), is a Maryland corporation. 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 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 March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the Company owned approximately 98.4% and 97.9% 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 reports its results of operations through the following four business segments: i) Acquisitions, ii) SBC Originations, iii) SBA Originations, Acquisitions and Servicing, and iv) Residential Mortgage Banking, with the remaining amounts recorded in Corporate- Other. The Company’s acquisition and origination platforms consist of the following four operating segments:

● 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. We also acquire purchased future receivables through our Knight Capital platform (“Knight Capital”). Knight Capital, which we acquired in 2019, is a technology-driven platform that provides working capital to small and medium sized businesses across the U.S.

● 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 (“ReadyCap Commercial”). These originated loans are generally held-for-investment or placed into securitization structures. Additionally, as part of this segment, we originate and service multi-family loan products under the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation’s Small Balance Loan Program (“Freddie Mac” and the “Freddie Mac program”). These originated loans are held for sale, then sold to Freddie Mac.

● 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 (“ReadyCap Lending”). 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. These originated loans are either held-for-investment, placed into securitization structures, or sold.

● Residential Mortgage Banking. We operate our 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, primarily agency lending programs.

On March 19, 2021, the Company completed the acquisition of Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (“ANH”), through a merger of ANH with and into a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, in exchange for approximately 16.8 million shares of the Company’s common stock and approximately $60.6 million in cash (“ANH Merger”). In accordance with the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of December 6, 2020 (the "Merger Agreement"), by and among the Company, RC Merger Subsidiary, LLC and ANH, the number of shares of the Company’s common stock issued was based on an exchange ratio of 0.1688 per share plus $0.61 in cash. The total purchase price for the merger of $417.9 million consists of the Company’s common stock issued in exchange for shares of ANH common stock and cash paid in lieu of fractional shares of the Company’s common stock, which was based on a price of $14.28 of the Company’s common stock on the acquisition date, and $0.61 in cash per share.

In addition, the Company issued 1,919,378 shares of newly designated 8.625% Series B Cumulative Preferred Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Series B Preferred Stock”), 779,743 shares of newly designated 6.25% Series C Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Series C Preferred Stock”), and 2,010,278 shares of newly designated 7.625% Series D Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Series D Preferred Stock”), in exchange for all shares of ANH’s 8.625% Series A Cumulative Preferred Stock, 6.25% Series B Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock and 7.625% Series C Cumulative Redeemable preferred stock outstanding prior to the effective time of the ANH Merger.

Upon the closing of the transaction and after giving effect to the issuance of shares of common stock as consideration in the merger, the Company’s historical stockholders owned approximately 77% of the combined Company’s outstanding common stock, while historical ANH stockholders owned approximately 23% of the combined Company’s outstanding common stock. Refer to Note 5 for assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the merger.

The acquisition of ANH 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 ANH enhanced the trading volume and liquidity for our stockholders. In addition, part of our strategy in acquiring ANH was to manage the liquidation and runoff of certain assets within the ANH portfolio and repay certain indebtedness on the ANH portfolio following the completion of the ANH Merger, and to redeploy the capital into opportunities in our core SBC strategies and other assets we expect will generate attractive risk-adjusted returns and long-term earnings accretion. Consistent with this strategy, at March 31, 2021, we have liquidated approximately $1.4 billion of assets within the ANH portfolio, primarily consisting of Agency RMBS, and repaid approximately $1.3 billion of indebtedness on the portfolio.

In addition, concurrently with entering into the Merger Agreement, we, the Operating Partnership and the Manager entered into the First Amendment to the Amended and Restated Management Agreement (the “Amendment”), pursuant to which, upon the closing of the ANH Merger, the Manager’s base management fee will be reduced by $1,000,000 per quarter for each of the first full four quarters following the effective time of the ANH Merger (the “Temporary Fee Reduction”). Other than the Temporary Fee Reduction set forth in the Amendment, the terms of the Management Agreement remain the same.

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.