Sky News has learned that Kensington is looking to buy £2.5bn of UK performing mortgage loans and will pay around that price for the portfolio. An unnamed bidder is also interested in the purchase which may result in Kensington losing out.

In April this year, parent company GE announced plans to reduce the size of GE Capital by selling most of GE Capital’s assets which included the shedding of GE Money Home Lending.  GE said it wanted to concentrate on the continued investment and growth of its industrial and manufacturing industries.

Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and TPG Special Situation Partners, two investment firms, agreed a deal to buy Kensington from Investec in September last year with the sale finally approved in February.

Since then the private equity partners have made several moves to expand their reach into the UK mortgage industry. In January they bought Acenden Mortgage Servicing Solutions from Lehman Brothers and using this firm, they plan to launch a new lender, New Street Mortgages, which will sit under the Kensington brand.

New Street Mortgages is expected to launch at the end of the year or towards the beginning of next year.
David Finlay, the ex managing director of the intermediary channel at Barclays, is part of the Acenden team.

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Blackstone and Kensington declined to comment on the GE Money purchase.