Blackstone and TPG to buy servicer from Lehman administrators

Blackstone and TPG have agreed a deal to buy Acenden Mortgage Servicing Solutions, the servicing business that was previously part of Lehman Brothers, from the administrators of the bank.

The UK residential mortgage specialist has £5.4bn under management across 64,000 loans and provides primary servicing, special servicing, analytics and securitisation services. The business, formerly known as Capstone, was launched as a standalone operation in 2010 and employs 400 people with offices in London, Dublin and High Wycombe.

Acenden is the second purchase in quick succession that Blackstone and TPG have bought together. In September the duo bought residential lender Kensington for £180m from Investec.

The deal comes at a time when the UK and London housing market continues to show resilience, despite concerns over a bubble,  and it will allow Blackstone and TPG to use Acenden to service loans that are originated by Kensington.

Amany Attia, chief executive officer of Acenden, said: “We are excited to work with Blackstone and TSSP and believe that Acenden is well placed to benefit in the long term from the collaboration with our new shareholders.”

The purchase was made by Blackstone’s venture capital division, Tactical Opportunities and TPG’s Special Situations Partners division, which specialises in credit and special situations.

The administrators of Lehman Brothers had previously tried to sell the business along with a package of £900m of loans, shortly after the bank’s collapse back in late 2008, with Blackstone having expressed interest at the time. But the business was ultimately retained for a further six years.

Blackrock was also close to buying Capstone just days before the collapse of Lehman in September 2008 but the deal was pulled as a result of the economic chaos that ensued.