HomeBridge Financial Services this week agreed to buy the assets of Prospect Mortgage, marking one of the largest acquisitions of the year and stoking the hopes of investment bankers that more deals may lay ahead. But HomeBridge’s purchase of Prospect could turn out to be an anomaly. According to HomeBridge CEO Peter Norden, the two parties had been talking on and off about combining forces for roughly five years. For Norden, the combination of the two nonbanks – both privately held – is...