Wolverhampton financial services group Charter Court to float on Stock Market
Charter Court, the Wolverhampton-based financial services group, has confirmed reports that it plans to float on the Stock Market in a move that could value it at around £500 million.
It owns the Exact and Precise mortgage brands and also operates an online bank, Charter Savings Bank.
Charter Court has been based on the Wolverhampton Business Park since it launched back in 2008, when it had just 28 staff.
It now has more than 500 employees and site developer Broadlands is currently building a new three-storey headquarters for the company that will house 250 staff.
Charter Court says it is now the leading specialist mortgage lender in the UK based on volume of mortgages generated in 2016 in the core markets in which it operates. Underlying profit after tax more than doubled last year to £38.6 million and hit £33.4m in just the first six months of this year.
The group's mortgage loan book stood at £4.4 billion at the end of June.
Charter Court is led by chief executive Ian Lonergan with chief financial officer Sebastien Maloney and chief risk officer Peter Elcock, who collectively have more than 75 years of experience in banking and mortgage lending.
Mr Lonergan said today: "Since our formation in 2008, the hard work in building this bank and its scalable growth platform has resulted in us being one of the leading specialist mortgage lenders in the markets in which we operate and we have also built a successful online savings bank offering sight and term deposits.
"We are now focused on the next phase of our development intended to drive sustainable, profitable growth and generate attractive returns whilst maintaining our approach to asset quality.
"We believe this is therefore the right time for this IPO, which will enhance our profile as we look to leverage our specialist skills and capabilities to exploit the opportunities we see for further growth in our chosen specialist mortgage markets."
Charter Court is largely owned by investment firm Elliott Management and is aiming for a free float of at least 40 per cent via the initial public offering (IPO) on the Stock Market.
It also aims to raise around £20 million from sales of new shares.
Old Mutual Global Investors has provided a letter of intent to buy £100 million of the offering on behalf of funds that it manages, Charter Court said.
