Joe Natale attends Rogers' AGM in Toronto, on April 18, 2019.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Home Capital Group Inc. HCG-T has nominated three new directors, including veteran telecom executive Joe Natale, as the mortgage lender shifts its focus to expansion after weathering a financial crisis five years ago.
Toronto-based Home Capital announced Tuesday that Mr. Natale – a former chief executive officer at Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-T and Telus Corp. T-T – securities lawyer Edward Waitzer and former McKinsey & Company partner David Court will be up for election as directors at the company’s annual meeting on May 18.
“The addition of these three outstanding candidates to our existing board of directors reflects a turning point in the future growth and development of Home,” said company chair Alan Hibben in a news release. “In the next phase of our development, we will leverage this foundational work to realize the long-term growth and profitability of the company.”
Home Capital reinstated its common-share dividend in February. In 2017, the lender faced a liquidity crisis after a regulatory investigation and the departure of founder Gerald Soloway. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. led a recapitalization of the company.
Mr. Natale left Rogers in November after a months-long governance struggle that pitted chair Edward Rogers against members of his family and the board. This is the first position he has accepted since leaving Rogers.
Home Capital’s core business is lending to individuals who are not able to get mortgages from banks, and most of its clients are self-employed or recent immigrants. “Home plays an essential role in bringing home ownership to new Canadians and people who are building their own businesses,” Mr. Natale said in a news release. “I am pleased to take part in the next phase of its development.”
Mr. Natale was a director at Toronto-Dominion Bank but did not seek re-election to its board this year.
Mr. Waitzer was a partner at Stikeman Elliot LLP – Home Capital was one of his clients – and previously served as CEO of the law firm. He is also a former chair of the Ontario Securities Commission and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. In a news release, he said: “I am impressed with the capabilities that Home has developed over the last few years.”
Mr. Court’s specialty at McKinsey was working with companies on digital innovation and advanced analytics.
Home Capital hired Yousry Bissada as its chief executive in August, 2017, as part of its turnaround strategy; he previously ran a mortgage software business and was an executive at TD and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Last year, Home Capital made a $244.7-million profit, and the company’s earnings per share increased more than 40 per cent in each of the past two years.
“We think Home Capital’s CEO has made good progress turning around the company following its liquidity crisis a few years ago and seemed to be on the right track to continued steady and profitable growth,” said analyst Geoffrey Kwan of RBC Capital Markets in a recent report.
Mr. Hibben said in a news release that the lender remains committed to diversity on its board. He said that while the percentage of directors who identify as women and as BIPOC will fall “as a short-term consequence of being able to attract three such high-calibre nominees in a single year, it is not a desired outcome, and will be adjusted in the normal course of our continuing process of board renewal.”
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