Investec is exploring a potential sale of Kensington Mortgage Company, the group’s intermediary mortgage business in the UK.
This morning (6 February), Investec gave an update on how it is doing to the stock exchange and revealed it is in talks to sell Kensington.
The interim statement revealed the South African bank has “received certain expressions of interest” over a purchase of Kensington. Bosses said “there can be no certainty any sale will take place.”
Investec has now appointed Fenchurch Advisory as its adviser in the potential sale and bosses said a further announcement “will be made, if and when appropriate”.
Talk of a sale comes just days after Kensington agreed with the Financial Conduct Authority that it will not enforce “unfair” terms in its agreements for clients that took out loans through Money Partners Ltd.
The FCA published a ‘notice of undertaking’ which details an agreement not to enforce “a number of terms” in the Money Partners Ltd mortgage conditions booklet 2004 over concerns that the terms were likely to be unfair under its consumer contracts regulations.
In particular, the FCA felt that the “terms provided the firm with too much discretion”.
Investec’s statement also revealed that overall Investec group results have been negatively impacted by the depreciation of the South African Rand to pounds sterling exchange rate.
Investec Wealth & Investment’s results increased substantially in the nine months ended 31 December 2013, benefiting from higher levels of average funds under management and net inflows of collectively more than £3bn.
