Optima Legal is based in Leeds and provides legal services in UK’s fee-assisted remortgage and equity release market.
It works with six of the top eight mortgage lenders, which is equal to a 22 per cent share of the remortgage market.
The acquisition will be funded from Pexa’s existing cash reserves and is subject to customary transaction conditions and approvals, including from the Solicitors Regulatory Authority of England and Wales.
The transaction is expected to complete by the end of this year.
Pexa offers a streamlined and automated solution that is integrated with the land registry and Bank of England to enable frictionless remortgages and faster settlements.
The digital exchange platform said that the integration with Optima Legal would demonstrate benefits of digital completion to its lender and customer base.
It also benefits consumers due to faster transactions and certainty, heightened transparency of the post-offer process and better loans deals due to ease of switching. Lenders will also have reduced processing costs, decreased time to settlement and increased remortgage capacity.
Conveyancing will also be able to streamline the remortgage process and deliver higher quality service.
Pexa announced that it would launch into the UK property market earlier this year and welcomed Shawbrook Bank and Hinckley and Rugby Building Society as the first lenders on the platform later the year.
The firm can support major lenders through various panel firms and work with small and mid-tier lenders to give customers a better experience. Lenders can also use Pexa’s technology directly, via Optima Legal or other UK conveyancing firms that integrates with the platform.
James Bawa, Pexa UK’s chief executive, said that the acquisition made a “significant step forward” for the firm and demonstrates “strength of our commitment to delivering transformational change that will benefit consumers, conveyancers and lenders alike”.
He added: “We look forward to working with the Optima Legal team to integrate our technology, showcasing the benefits of digitisation – from improved accuracy and efficiency to reduced costs. Importantly, our platform will remain available to all.
“Working with stakeholders across the industry, and starting with remortgaging, we aim to streamline a conveyancing system that has been under significant pressure. One in five borrowers have abandoned the remortgage process in the past two years, given delays, complexity or poor experiences. We want to make that is a thing of the past as interest rates rise.”
