Announcing its trading update to the London Stock Exchange, Kensington confirmed it had received, and accepted a bid from Investec, valuing the company at £283 million.
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Announcing the move, Alison Hutchinson, chief executive of Kensington Group and managing director of Kensington Mortgages, said: “The combination of Investec’s strong balance sheet, access to lower cost of funding and capital markets expertise, together with Kensington’s brand, established distribution, innovative product range and reputation for excellent service will create a powerful combination for the growing specialist mortgage market.”
Tamsin Hemsley, PR manager at Nationwide, admitted the move could see Kensington broaden its scope. She said: “Following the sale to Investec it could be that Kensington will move more into the prime market. The more lenders that are active in the market, the better.”
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As part of its trading update, Kensington also confirmed that the short-term financial outlook for the organisation had deteriorated, with total revenue in 2007 expected to be below its 2006 results. The mortgage book for Kensington was £7.1 billion at the end of April 2007, compared to the November findings of £7.2 billion.
