Private equity-backed consolidator Pivotal Growth has bought Grange Mortgage and Protection Services, a 15-year-old specialist broker in Northampton.
The deal marks the consolidator’s second acquisition. Its first, announced in December, saw it buy Scottish broker Lifetime Finance Group.
Pivotal Growth, set up in April 2021, has raised a pot of £200mn for consolidation purposes. It said today (February 11) the management team was in “active discussion with a number of other brokers” who it believed would benefit from becoming part of the group.
“We expect to confirm further deals in the near future,” the company said, reiterating its words in December that a “significant number” of broker opportunities were in the pipeline for early this year.
Pivotal Growth is a joint venture between Newcastle-based mortgage advice firm LSL Property Services and London-based private equity firm Pollen Street Capital.
The consolidator’s aim is to "buy and build" a national mortgage broker which prioritises technology, compliance and customer service.
LSL claims to be one of the largest mortgage intermediary, protection advice and estate agency services in the country.
Its brands include mortgage and protection network Primis, which has a membership of more than 900 firms, and mortgage club The Mortgage Alliance.
Pollen Street Capital has poured £2bn into the financial and business services sectors since 2003.
The investor claims to have "considerable experience" of the UK mortgage market and in executing buy-and-build strategies.
In September 2020, it appointed former NatWest executive David Jones as its operating partner for technology. Jones had previously headed digital distribution for the bank’s commercial banking arm.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
