Home » Barclays snaps up Kensington Mortgages in £2.3bn deal

Barclays snaps up Kensington Mortgages in £2.3bn deal

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Barclays Bank has bought Kensington Mortgages for £2.3bn following an auction of the specialist mortgage lender.

Kensington, which has 600 staff and specialises in offering mortgages to the self-employed and borrowers with more complex incomes, is being sold by private equity owners Blackstone and Sixth Street. It orginated around £1.9bn of mortgages in the year to March 31 2022.

This acquisition will mean that Barclays is one of the few major high street bank to offer more specialist lending solutions. It is also one of Barclays’ biggest recent acquisitions, and an indication that is sees continued growth in the UK housing market.

The deal, which was announced this morning, is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete later this year. Barclays said the final price would depend on the size of Kensington’s mortgage portfolio at the time the deal goes through.

It is understood that the proposed sale of Kensington attracted potential buyers from across the mortgage industry, with the sale priced offered by Barclays being significantly higher than earlier estimates.

Kensington Mortgages chief executive Mark Arnold says: “We have a strong track-record in the specialist mortgage space, using our proprietary data and tech platform to innovate and grow, and now is a natural point to bring in a partner who can help drive our next expansion phase.”

He adds that as a major UK bank, Barclays is well-placed to support this expansion, while the sale will allow it differentiate itself as a ‘mainstream specialist’ offering a range of mortgage solutions not available from competitors.

Barclays Bank UK chief executive Matt Hammerstein said the transaction reinforces the bank’s commitment to the UK residential mortgage market and presents an opportunity to broaden its product range and capabilities.

He adds: “Kensington Mortgage Company is a best-in-class specialist mortgage lender with an established track record in the UK market, strong broker and customer relationships and data analytics capabilities.

“It complements our existing UK mortgage business and broker relationships through the addition of a specialist prime mortgage originator and the utilisation of our strong UK funding base.”

Finopulse

Disclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Finopulse.
Publisher: Emma Simon

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