Mortgage specialists Homeloans Ltd and Resimac have announced plans to merge, creating a A$13 billion home lending business.The companies have entered into a scheme implementation agreement, under which Homeloans will acquire all the shares in Resimac and issue new Homeloans share to Resimac shareholders.The deal is a reverse takeover, which will result in Resimac shareholders owning 72.5 per cent of the merged entity. Resimac chief executive Warren McLeland will be appointed managing director.Homeloans chief executive Scott McWilliam said the deal was structured in this way ensure that the group would continue as a listed company. At present, Homeloans is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, Resimac is not.Investor Duncan Saville's Ingot Capital Management will hold 57.3 per cent of the merged entity. Saville is considered a long-term investor. National Australia Bank and Macquarie Group have stakes in Homeloans.On the surface, the merger of two non-bank mortgage specialists looks like a simple scale play but the businesses complement each other in ways that should promote growth.Resimac, which has a loan book worth more than $5 billion, uses the securitisation market to fund its business, while Homeloans has a mortgage manager model, working with a range of wholesale funders."Over the past three or four years we have invested in our distribution. That is our core competency," McWilliam said."But we earn a manager margin. We need to get deeper into the funding margin side of the business. That is what Resimac offers."The two companies had combined new originations of more than $3 billion in the year to June.Resimac reported a net profit of $7.5 million in 2014/15 and is expecting to report a profit of around $12.5 million for the year to June.Homeloans made a net profit of $6.2 million in 2014/15.McWilliam will be appointed joint deputy managing director, along with Resimac's executive director of securitisation Mary Ploughman.Homeloans shareholders will meet to vote on the deal in October.