Countrywide employees wait for merger news
By John Loesing newstip@theacorn.com

It's still too early to tell what effect the Bank of America purchase announcement will have on local Countrywide staff and branch offices, spokespersons on both sides of the deal told the Simi Valley Acorn this week.

But changes are coming, officials said.

Bank of America announced Jan. 11 it would acquire the troubled mortgage lender in a $4.1-billion stock transaction, but the merger won't be finalized until later this year, leaving the future uncertain for thousands of Countrywide employees who work throughout the region.

The Calabasas-based lender operates more than 1,000 field offices nationwide and has a total work force of more than 50,000.

The company's biggest local presence is a three-building campus on Countrywide Way in Simi Valley where 2,300 people are employed. Another 1,500 work at the Tapo Canyon complex and an additional 200 on Flower Glen Street.

The Las Virgenes/Conejo Valley area has a head count of about 3,800, including 1,200 at Countrywide corporate headquarters on Park Granada in Calabasas, 600 in a pair of buildings in Agoura Hills, 1,500 in the three buildings in Westlake Village and 500 in Thousand Oaks. Branches are also situated in Moorpark and Camarillo.

Even the small community of Oak Park sprouted a Countrywide office in the wake of the mortgage lending boom that once saw the company's stock price soar to its all-time high of $45 a share.

At the time of the purchase announcement, Bank of America valued Countrywide's shares at only $7.16.

"The subprime crisis of 2007 has left more than 100,000 mortgage employees (nationwide) without a job, with many facing foreclosure themselves," said Sam Garcia, publisher of MortgageDaily.com.

Mortgage lenders in California, Countrywide in particular, have been hit the hardest. Last year, California lost almost 16,000 jobs related to the real estate finance industry, an analysis by the web publisher showed. Approximately 11,000 Countrywide employees have been laid off during the past five months.

Ken Lewis, Bank of America chair and chief executive officer, said in an investor conference call last weekend that there are no immediate plans for the disposition of Countrywide's assets.

Countrywide will continue to be operated separately under its own brand with "integration" occurring no sooner than 2009, Bank of America officials said in a news release. A spokesperson for Bank of America confirmed that it was "too early in the process" to say what would happen to Countrywide's employees.

"Countrywide did well for many years. Bank of America won't throw the baby out with the bath water," said the husband of a Countrywide employee from Simi Valley, who asked to remain anonymous.

The merger itself won't be finalized before the third quarter of this year.

"In the meantime, for Countrywide, it's business as usual," said Rick Simon, a spokesperson for Countrywide.

And that means no name change- at least for now- at the Countrywide Performing Arts Center at Thousand Oaks' Civic Arts Plaza.

The acquisition will make Bank of America the nation's largest mortgage lender and loan servicer, the role currently held by Countrywide.

The lender's chief executive, Angelo Mozilo, said the deal represents the "right decision" for Countrywide's shareholders, customers and employees.