Shareholder rights law firm Robbins Arroyo LLP is investigating whether certain officers and directors of PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT) breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders.
PMT is a specialty finance company that, through its subsidiaries, invests primarily in residential mortgage loans and mortgage-related assets.
Specifically, Robbins Arroyo is investigating whether PMT's chairman and CEO, Stanford L. Kurland, benefited at PMT's expense through PennyMac Financial Services, Inc., the firm recently announced.
Kurland established PennyMac Financial Services in 2008 and currently serves as chairman, CEO. He is also a part owner of the company.
On Feb. 7, PennyMac Financial Services filed a registration statement in connection with its initial public offering. The statement revealed that PMT paid PennyMac Financial Services and its subsidiaries $96.7 million in 2012, a substantial increase from $8.6 million in 2010 and $23.4 million in 2011, according to a release from Robbins Arroyo.
Moreover, the Trust accounted for more than one-third of PennyMac Financial Services' net revenue in 2012, the release states.
‘The members of our senior management team may have conflicts in allocating their time and services between our operations and the activities of PMT, the Investment Funds and other entities or accounts managed by us now or in the future,’ the company's SEC filing states.
Should an investigation reveal there was any wrongdoing on the part of company management, shareholders may have the option to pursue a shareholder derivative action, Robbins Arroyo states.