In correspondence sent last Thursday and seen by Mortgage Introducer, John Whitmore, joint Trigold CEO, says: “You may have read in the press today that the OFT has made the decision to refer the proposed merger to the Competition Commission. As a result, given the extended timescale and substantial cost to progress via the CC I can now confirm that the merger will not be proceeding.
“It has been an interesting journey and we are pleased to say the costs of the exercise have not been met by us.”
Yesterday Mortgage Brain yesterday issued a press release in which CEO Mark Lofthouse said “we don’t feel it is in the best interests of everyone involved to progress”.
He went on to say: “Referral cases like these are designed for large companies and we feel our time and resources will be better served continuing to invest in delivering the best products and services to intermediaries.”
But Whitmore and Trigold’s Martin Colyer were already telling clients that the deal was off five days earlier.
Late last Thursday afternoon as brokers nationwide were getting into the spirit of St Patrick’s Day, Whitmore was already saying “the clearance process with the OFT has only further emphasised how strong TrigoldCrystal is with 65% of UK mortgage brokers using Prospector, indeed the OFT themselves confirm “TrigoldCrystal are the clear market leader”.”
Both Trigold and Mortgage Brain were unavailable to comment.
