Paragon buys RBS consumer loans portfolio
Buy-to-let mortgage specialist Paragon has agreed to buy a portfolio of unsecured consumer loans from part-nationalised British bank Royal Bank of Scotland for £43m, and added it could snap up further assets in the near future.
“We are extremely pleased to announce a further loan portfolio acquisition through our investment division, Idem Capital,” Paragon Chief Executive Nigel Terrington said in a statement.
“Paragon, through Idem Capital, has made great progress with its strategy. This is the sixth portfolio acquired since mid-2009, of which four have been acquired in 2011, bringing the total investment to date to £89.5m. We continue to see further attractive portfolio acquisition opportunities,” he added.
Paragon said the RBS deal would be earnings enhancing.
For RBS, the sale is part of its ongoing strategy to divest non-core assets. The British government owns about 83 percent of RBS after it had to bail out the bank during the credit crisis.