LCM buys European mortgage servicer

London-based European fund manager LCM Partners, through its parent LC Financial Holdings, which also owns the loan servicing arm Link Financial Group, has agreed to acquire the banking and credit management business of Australia’s Link Administration Holdings for cash consideration of up to A$48 million ($32 million; €30 million).

The purchase increases the size of LCM’s asset servicing business, taking it from assets managed of around €60 billion to more than €110 billion and grows the size of the team from 1,100 to approximately 2,000 through the addition of BCM’s operations in Ireland, the UK, Italy and the Netherlands. The deal also enables LCM to originate and service mortgages for its limited partners, as well as for BCM’s client base.

The deal comprises €20 million in cash consideration at completion plus deferred cash consideration of €5 million payable within a year of completion and a cash earnout of €5 million subject to BCM meeting specified financial targets by the second anniversary of completion.

The deal is expected to complete in the second half of this year, subject to approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, the Central Bank of Ireland and the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets.

LCM Partners’ chief executive officer Paul Burdell said the firm would help BCM’s team “maintain and build what we consider is a best-in-class global mortgage and loan servicer”. He added: “BCM has an excellent roster of banking and investor clients in Ireland, UK, Italy and the Netherlands, and we are confident that they will continue to provide an outstanding service.”

LCM has a strategic partnership with Brookfield Asset Management, with the latter increasing its stake in LCM from 25 percent to 49.9 percent in August 2021. It is currently in the market with SOLO Evolution, an SFDR Article 8 fund focused on granular, asset-backed credit investments that align with UN Sustainable Development Goals using an external ESG taxonomy.