The acquisition will increase the bank’s capacity and distribution reach and add more than 100 new active clients to its development finance business
Shawbrook Bank has acquired RateSetter’s £167m development finance portfolio for an undisclosed amount, in a deal that will also see the peer-to-peer lending platform’s development finance team move to the challenger bank.
The acquisition will add more than 100 new active clients to Shawbrook’s existing development finance business, as well as increasing the bank’s capacity and distribution reach.
It comes three months after Metro Bank completed its acquisition of RateSetter’s unsecured personal loan business.
This transaction demonstrates the enduring quality of RateSetter’s loan assets, said Peter Behrens, RateSetter’s chief commercial officer. I am pleased that our property finance team can go to a new home where they will complement the Shawbrook team and continue to grow the franchise they have built.
Shawbrook’s development finance business offers facilities from £1m to £30m to small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) developers seeking to fund residential and mixed-use projects.
Terry Woodley, managing director of the development finance business at Shawbrook Bank, said that purchasing RateSetter’s development loan portfolio will bring the challenger bank closer to its ambition of becoming the UK’s specialist SME lender of choice.
This is a fantastic acquisition and one that complements our existing development finance operations, said Woodley.
Over the last four years, we have consistently responded to the funding needs of established regional property developers, enabling us to create a development finance business which has subsequently grown rapidly in size, reputation and confidence, he said. Customers in this market require specialist fit-for-purpose funding products, delivered consistently and by experienced people who understand the dynamics of a build and the wider property market.
He said that the RateSetter business has been built by serving the needs of property developers in a key part of the market that remains underserved by traditional lenders.
