Mills & Reeve advises Bluestone on sale of UK mortgage business
Cambridge-based Bluestone has entered into an agreement to sell Bluestone Mortgages (BML) to Shawbrook Bank in a cash and shares transaction. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to complete in the second quarter of this year.
Bluestone Mortgages was established in 2014 with the acquisition and re-branding of Basinghall Finance Limited in a joint venture with Australia’s Macquarie Group. BML has originated over £1.8bn since its launch, and currently manages a book of over £1.3bn residential loans.
The business will continue to trade under the Bluestone brand and day to day operations will be led by the company’s existing management team.
Steve Seal, Bluestone Mortgages’ Chief Executive Officer said: “This transaction is great news for BML, our intermediary partners and for our customers. Shawbrook have been a long standing strategic partner for many years and joining the Shawbrook family is a natural step as we continue to grow and develop the business.
“We have exciting growth plans and the support available from Shawbrook will help to accelerate these, enabling BML to provide innovative lending solutions to the growing number of customers who will need the support of a specialist mortgage lender.”
Marcelino Castrillo, Shawbrook’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to have strengthened our long-standing and successful partnership with BML through this acquisition. BML is a well-established brand in the UK specialist residential mortgage market, and by bringing the two organisations together, we can use our combined capabilities and scale to offer an even stronger proposition to UK homeowners.”
Stephen Hamilton, partner at Mills & Reeve, who led the M&R team advising Bluestone, said: “The transaction provides an ideal platform for BML to achieve its ambitious growth plans as it further cements its market leading position in the specialist mortgage lender market. We have worked with the Bluestone team for many years on a variety of strategic transactions and this achievement marks a further step in their strategy to realise value for their investors.”