MortgagesJul 23 2021

MAB acquires stake in mortgage broker

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MAB acquires stake in mortgage broker

Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) has acquired a stake in specialist new build mortgage broker Evolve Financial Solutions.

The deal, the details of which were not disclosed, continues the intermediary’s activity in the new build market after it acquired Metro Finance in March via Meridian - which MAB holds a 40 per cent stake in.

As part of MAB’s latest deal, Evolve will become an authorised representative within its network.

Founded in 2009 by Jason Blunden, a former IFA at Sterling & Law Group, Evolve has grown to 35 advisers based out of Ipswich. It has plans to open a new office in Colchester next month.

Blunden, Evolve’s managing director, said the firm has been growing rapidly over the last five years, but particularly “over the last 12 months”.

Other players have been heavily investing in the new build space of late. Legal & General announced in March it had acquired and started on site at "a major modular homes scheme" in Lockleaze, Bristol, set to deliver 185 new homes.

Peter Brodnicki, MAB’s chief executive, said: “We have continued to add invaluable experience to the MAB New Homes board, which now includes the highest calibre non-execs from the broking, lending and building sectors.”

These include Persimmon Homes’ former group sales and marketing director Mark Cook, Lloyds Banking Group’s former housing development head Douglas Cochrane, and Andy Frankish - the former managing director of hybrid mortgage broker Talk Group, which was acquired by MAB in 2012.

The mortgage intermediary - which floated on the London Stock Exchange back in 2014 - houses more than 1,500 advisers across the UK, and claims to handle around £16bn in loans annually.

But whilst the network is focusing on new build investments, it isn’t leaving other business opportunities behind. Last year, it entered the later life market through a partnership with Key Group.

MAB had already distributed later life mortgage products through a small pilot group of MAB advisers. Now it offers all advisers access to this market.

“Specialist advice is a key differentiator for intermediaries, and later life represents a clear opportunity for them to service new customers and extend their relationships with existing ones,” Ben Thompson, deputy CEO at MAB, said in September.

ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com