Lloyds bank has signed a £180mn financial partnership with LendInvest to help the lender grow its buy-to-let business and securitisation programme.
LendInvest announced the deal in its half year results published yesterday (October 10).
The results showed the lender has seen its funds under management increase by 20 per cent year-on-year to £3.4bn, while the firm said it currently has more than £950mn of lending headroom to support its growth trajectory in the medium term.
But due to uncertainty in the wider market, the firm expects its rate of growth to reduce, particularly in buy-to-let in the second half of this year.
As a result, LendInvest expects its profit before tax for the full year to be in line with last year.
It said: “We have taken this cautious approach mindful of the significant difficulties in short term forecasting given the economic and market backdrop.”
LendInvest chief executive, Rod Lockhart said: "The UK property finance market is ripe for disruption and our performance over the last six months reflects the attractiveness of our differentiated technology-driven platform for borrowers and funding partners alike.
"We grew across all lending products in the first half of the year, particularly in buy-to-let, but also in bridging and development which benefited from our innovative new broker portal.
"Looking ahead, we are acutely aware of the disruption in the UK mortgage market, which is affecting confidence and for the moment, applications for new mortgages have slowed across the market."
Lockhart added that the recent market "dislocation" has demonstrated the "flexibility and speed to market capability" of its platform which gives it a competitive edge and makes the firm confident in its long term prospects.
When asked what the firm plans to do with the investment from Lloyds, a spokesperson for LendInvest said the firm is unable to share any more details on the financial relationship at this stage.
jane.matthews@ft.com
