LONDON, UK: Mortgage Advice Bureau Limited has agreed to acquire approximately 75% of Project Finland Topco Limited (Fluent Money Group) for a total cash payment of c.£73 million based upon an enterprise value of £95 million together with a put and call option over the remaining interests.
Fluent is a technology enabled telephone advice mortgage broking platform that has developed an end to end digital customer journey, with approximately 420 employees including c.125 advisers across Mortgages (first charge mortgages), Secured Personal Loans (second charge mortgages), Later Life lending and Bridging Finance.
The acquisition will be funded from renewed and increased debt facilities, existing cash resources and the proceeds of a proposed placing of new ordinary shares in the company, to raise c. £40 million, also announced
The acquisition is conditional on admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM and approval by the FCA of the change in control. Completion of the Acquisition is not expected to occur before the second half of 2022.
Peter Brodnicki, Founder and CEO of MAB, said: “We are very excited to partner with a like-minded management team and high growth intermediary that is a leader in centralised telephone mortgage advice.
This acquisition is a perfect example of our strategy to invest in complementary businesses and platforms to help accelerate growth by broadening our proposition. MAB has targeted the fast-growing sector of national lead generation by using technology to link together its key Appointed Representatives and invested firms seamlessly. Combined, we expect that Fluent and MAB will be able to grow this new market share opportunity quickly and effectively, complementing the local/regional strategy delivered by the rest of MAB’s growing distribution.”