The business will offer first-charge mortgages to borrowers in Ireland that do not meet the lending criteria of traditional lenders. The firm will be led by chief executive Ivan Doherty, who has a successful track record in senior positions in Irish financial companies and David Ingram, chief operating officer, formerly with GE Capital.
Kensington will be the majority shareholder in the business with the remainder of the equity being held by the management team. Kensington has the option to buy all of the remaining equity over the next five years.
John Maltby, Kensington group chief executive, said: “We recognised that the Irish market is growing strongly and has solid demographic factors. But we did not want to venture into this arena on our own. We wanted to form a partnership with people who know the market well.”
Figures show that at the end of last year Irish properties were three and a half times where they stood in 1987.
Research by Davy stockbrokers showed that the average second-hand home in Ireland was not only more expensive than in Britain or the United States, it was 8.2 times the average national wage when banks usually lend about three times a buyer's annual income. This is up from 5.7 times in 1998.
The Irish also pay more for housing than anybody else in the eurozone a report from the National Competitiveness Council revealed this week.
