Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, the buyer of troubled housing debt, expects to start purchasing newly issued loans and packaging them into bonds by the middle of next year, Chief Executive Officer Stanford Kurland said.

The new initiative would be run by Private National Mortgage Acceptance Co., the manager of Calabasas, California- based PennyMac, Kurland said in an interview. Private National Mortgage, which he also heads, is working to enter the business as well.

The plans, along with Private National Mortgage’s recent move to start making home loans directly to consumers, represent a broad return to the mortgage market by Kurland, 57. He has focused on delinquent debt with his latest ventures after helping build Countrywide Financial Corp. into the top U.S. lender as home prices soared.

“Everything this management team is focused on is: How do we participate constructively in revitalizing the market?” Kurland said in the Nov. 6 telephone interview when asked how he responds to criticism about seeking to profit in mortgages after leaving Countrywide, where he was president until 2006.

Countrywide, roiled by soaring U.S. foreclosures after the housing boom turned into a slump, was sold to Bank of America Corp. in 2007.

Target Mortgages

Kurland formed Private National Mortgage, also based in Calabasas, with former Countrywide executives last year. In July, Private National Mortgage raised new cash for distressed investing through an initial public offering for PennyMac, a real estate investment trust. Private National Mortgage owns a loan servicer as well as an asset-management unit, which was started with money from BlackRock Inc. and Highfields Capital Management LP.

PennyMac posted a net loss of $730,000, or 4 cents a share, for its initial two months of business ended Sept. 30, the firm said in a Nov. 5 statement.

The real estate investment trust fell 49 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $17.09 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the lowest price since the shares were sold to the public July 30. PennyMac is down 15 percent from its $20 initial price.

The so-called conduit business that will buy new mortgages to resell as securities will focus on loans eligible to be bundled into bonds guaranteed by government-supported Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or U.S. agency Ginnie Mae, and potentially prime loans larger than the limits of those entities if the market for related bonds revives, Kurland said.

For PennyMac, the loans acquired would serve as a short- term investment when its cash isn’t all being used on distressed debt, Kurland said. The plan would also provide loan-servicing business to Private National Mortgage, he said.

Private National Mortgage’s new direct-to-consumer origination business, which relies on calls centers and acquires customers from Internet leads and print advertising, is “now barely off the ground,” Kurland said. The company had been only making new loans as part of loan workouts, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jody Shenn in New York at jshenn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 10, 2009 17:45 EST