The Paragon Group is trying to acquire lender Britannic Money and is in talks with the Surrey-based lender over a possible purchase.
John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages Limited (PML), was unable to comment on the deal other than what had been released in a statement to the stockmarket. The statement said: ‘Paragon confirms that it is in talks with Britannic Group plc in respect of the potential acquisition of its wholly owned subsidiary Britannic Money, a UK lender specialising in buy to let and flexible mortgages. Should these talks progress to a successful conclusion, Paragon would expect to finance the acquisition from a combination of new debt facilities and existing cash resources. A further announcement will be made as and when appropriate.’
No one at Britannic was available to comment on the announcement. Speaking of its implications for the intermediary market, Tim Dawson, managing director of Mortgage Express, said: ‘I think from an intermediary point of view the deal is a good thing. Britannic Money was in a bit of a difficult position and intermediaries were seeing a bit of uncertainty. If the deal brings more certainty then it has to be a good thing.’ He added: ‘A lot of lenders are looking to consolidate, although Britannic Money was in a different position and pushed into the buyers market rather than the sellers market.’
Keith Wood, managing director of Warners Financial Services in Wymondham, Norfolk, commented: ‘Paragon is a good company and it is in a similar market to Britannic Money so I can see a lot of synergies.’ He went on: ‘Paragon is not as strong as Britannic Money on the product front, but it has good expertise and distribution so the deal will be a good mix.’ (For details of Paragon’s interim results see p10.)
