Paragon Financial Corporation, a consolidator in the highly fragmented financial services marketplace, announced today that it reached an agreement to acquire eHOMECREDIT Corp. eHOMECREDIT of Garden City, NY, correspondent lender  and provider of residential mortgages, employs 200 people in their 35,000 sq ft branch office. Although eHOMECREDIT is licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia, the majority of their loan origination business is generated in the states of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Under the merger agreement, Paragon will issue 1,000,000 shares of its Series G Preferred Stock (valued at approximately $7,000,000) to shareholders of eHOMECREDIT. The Series G Preferred Stock is automatically convertible into 100 million shares of Paragon's common stock upon the filing of an amendment to Paragon's articles of incorporation. 

"We view ourselves as the ideal partner for Paragon in their quest to consolidate the mortgage origination business. The addition of our 40 licenses will provide Paragon's mortgage origination business with the ability to originate loans in 47 states," said Phil Zegarelli, CEO of eHOMECREDIT. "We share Paragon's vision of the future of the mortgage origination business and believe the melding our complementary management talent, business processes, and geographic locations into a single operating entity should produce positive tangible synergy," he added.

"Upon the completion of this transaction, we will have a fully-functional national operating platform and demonstrate that we are consolidator in this highly fragmented industry," said Scott Vining, chief financial officer of Paragon.