Mortgage lender Better rebounds after 90%-plus debut dive

Better Home & Finance Holding

25/08/2023 11:59

** Shares of Better Home & Finance  BETR.O  rise 40% to
$1.61 premarket, a day after online mortgage lender's grim debut
    ** BETR shares traded as low as 77 cents on Thurs before
ending session down ~93% at $1.15 after co, backed by SoftBank
 9984.T , completed long-delayed SPAC merger with Aurora
Acquisition Corp
    ** Better, which hit the headlines in Dec 2021 after it laid
off 900 employees via Zoom, planned to go public in 2021 but the
deal was delayed amid regulatory scrutiny
    ** Prior to the merger, roughly 95% of AURC shareholders
redeemed their holdings. A small public float of shares
typically exposes a stock to volatility
    ** Better's listing comes as mortgage rates continue to
soar, with the 30-year fixed rate last week hitting highest
levels since 2000, helping drive mortgage applications to a
28-year low, the Mortgage Bankers Association said earlier this
week

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))