Mortgage Introducer spoke to several sources who claimed that the specialist lender had been looking for a buyer for a number of months, although no concrete interest had been linked to the firm.
One source said: “We have been hearing things about edeus being on the market for a while now. It has been looked at by a number of potential buyers, with Investec and Goldman Sachs being names that I’ve heard. However, there is nothing concrete yet.”
Another source agreed, although he admitted that the prospect of finding a potential buyer in the current climate would be very difficult.
“Edeus has been on the market for a little while now. However, the bad news for edeus is that there seems to be no one out there who wants to buy a specialist lender.
"If Morgan Stanley couldn’t find a buyer for Advantage Home Loans, and then there’s the whole situation with Northern Rock, it doesn’t look good for anyone looking to sell.”
However, Alan Cleary, managing director of edeus, insisted that the specialist lending firm was not on the market but would, like any lender, have to consider a ‘substantial offer’.
He said: “I can guarantee that neither Goldman Sachs nor Investec have spoken to edeus about an offer, either formally or informally. The investors that we have in the business are not sellers and the ‘for sale’ boards are not above our doors.
“But, like any other business, if we were to receive a spectacular buy out offer, then we would have to consider it. If someone wanted to buy a specialist mortgage lender then it would be edeus all day long, but why would they spend a substantial amount of money when they could aquire Advantage Home Loans for next to nothing?”
