Great Lakes Expands Footprint with Acquisition of South Dakota Guarantor, EAC

Here is the story in the Aberdeen News.  EAC cited the tough economy and constrictions in the FFEL program as the rationale for the merger.  In terms of guarantee volume for the first 3Q of FY08, Great Lakes ranked #4.  I suspect that this may be the beginning of consolidation among guarantors given recent regulatory changes which negativelly impacted the economics of their business as well as a drop in the growth of FFELP volume given recent inroads by the Direct Lending program.  Also, as this post indicates, while there were 35 guarantors nationwide (prior to this merger), the top 10 represent over 83% of the loans guaranteed in the first 3Q of FY08.