Wachovia Buys Mortgage Lender

Wachovia's(WB Quote) expansion campaign continued Tuesday with an agreement to acquire AmNet Mortgage(AMNT Quote) for $83 million.

The price comes out to $10.30 a share. AmNet, whose shares were halted for trading prior to the announcement, last closed at $10.20, up 43 cents on the day.

AmNet sells a variety of residential mortgage products through a branch network that serves more than 7,000 brokers. The company funded $9 billion in residential mortgage loans in 2004 and is expected to fund $12 billion to $13 billion in 2005.

AmNet will remain headquartered in San Diego and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Wachovia after the merger, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005.

On Monday, Wachovia announced an agreement to acquire auto lender Westcorp(WES Quote) and a publicly traded subsidiary for about $4 billion.