SME lender Funding Empire has sold majority ownership to Paratus AMC, a residential mortgage lending company. According to a company statement, Funding Empire will continue to maintain operations in Cardiff as “Wales’ only peer to peer lending lending platform”. The direct lender launched operations in the fall of 2013.
Today Paratus claims assets under management of approximately £2.6 billion, representing approximately 27,000 accounts. In February 2015, Paratus AMC moved into the direct lending space with the specialist buy to let lender Foundation Home Loans. Paratus AMC is based in Bracknell and has 115 employees. Paratus is also the loan administrator for Landbay regarding their recent agreement with Keystone.
Managing Director of Funding Empire, Parag Patel, commented on the acquisition;
“We are delighted to welcome Paratus AMC as a partner and majority shareholder. Their team, mature back office functions, strong balance sheet and proven ability in managing secured assets on a large scale presents us with a unique opportunity to create a market leading business in the dynamic P2P lending market. With the backing of Paratus AMC, we are now best placed to accelerate the development of Funding Empire and build on the solid foundation the team has worked relentlessly to create over the past few years. We are currently working on the launch of some new and exciting products without compromising our reputation for taking a very thorough, transparent and customer-centric approach to doing business.”
According to the Funding Empire site, the lending platform has lent approximately £210,000 to date making it a smaller entry into the p2p lending space.
Hans Geberbauer, CEO at Paratus AMC, said, “We are delighted to have Parag and his team on board. They have built an excellent platform. In the fast moving P2P lending environment, they have resisted the temptation to take short cuts and built out Funding Empire’s business with great care.”