Freedom Finance Holdings Limited / SOF Investments

Cavendish Corporate Finance, the UK’s leading sell-side mid-market M&A firm, has advised on the sale of Freedom Finance Ltd, the UK’s largest personal loan broker, to Target Group, a portfolio company of SOF Annex Fund.

Freedom Finance, established in 2007, has undergone strong growth within the loan brokerage market driven by its unique search technology, which provides customers with accurate real time quotations across a panel of both unsecured and secured lenders. Freedom Finance brokered 10,906 loans in its most recent year, up from 10,500, and is targeting 12,000 for the current year. It works with lenders such as Sainsbury’s Bank, Blemain Finance and Zopa to provide secured and unsecured finance, mainly for the purposes of loan consolidation and home improvements.

Target is a leading provider of software and outsourced services in the loans, savings and insurance markets. It has over £10bn of loans and savings running on its platform across multiple product types and customers.

The acquisition will bring together Freedom Finance’s brokerage and technology with Target’s industry knowledge, software and servicing expertise providing a compelling proposition to existing and new customers.

The SOF Annex Fund is managed by SOF Investments Limited, a private equity fund manager focused on investing in businesses in the financial and business services sectors. To date, they have invested over £1.2bn in a range of businesses across all stages of development.

Cavendish, which advised on the sale, has so far completed on the sale of eleven deals in 2014. Its previous Financial Services deals include: World First, Veritas Asset Management, Mackenzie Hall, Money Advice Direct, among others.

Nicola Georgiou, Managing Director of Freedom Finance Ltd, commented:

“We are delighted to announce that Freedom Finance has been acquired by SOF. We have very ambitious growth plans for the business and SOF are the right shareholders to help us achieve those targets. The diverse portfolio of SOF companies offer us valuable partners with which to expand into other areas of financial services using our unique sourcing platform. We have already identified a number of exciting opportunities and are looking forward to this new growth phase.”

Lindsey McMurray, Managing Partner of SOF Investments Ltd, commented:

“Freedom Finance will be a fantastic addition to the Target Group allowing us to deliver a compelling proposition with the highest standards of regulatory excellence to both existing and new customers. At SOF we seek to invest in high-quality businesses operating in specialist markets with entrepreneurial and driven management teams. Freedom Finance and the team led by Nicola Georgiou certainly have these qualities and we’re excited about working together to build a business that delivers market-leading products and services to create long-term sustainable success.”

Peter Gray, Partner and Head of the Financial Services Group at Cavendish, commented:

“Freedom Finance is an exceptional business with unique “soft search” technology that enables customers to ascertain availability of personal loans on a real time basis without impairing their credit rating. In Target Group, they have found an excellent acquirer which will be able to add considerable value to Freedom Finance by leveraging its extensive industry relationships.

“In Sӧderberg & Partners we have found a partner who sees the world the same way we do and the whole team at Fidelius is incredibly excited about the next phase of our journey. I would like to extend our thanks to Ben and the team at Cavendish who ran an excellent process and provided quality, considered advice throughout – many thanks to the whole team!”

Jim Grant, CEO, Fidelius Group

“In July 2015 we founded Pure Cremation and have grown the business to become the largest independent provider of prepaid plans in the UK. Pure is only part way through its exciting journey and, after a rigorous search process, we are delighted to have found such a strong partner in Epiris.

The Cavendish team, led by Jonathan Buxton and Ben Goldring, did a fantastic job, running a truly competitive process and managing the transaction with great skill. They were crucial in delivering this deal and its successful outcome – many thanks to the whole team.”

Bryan Powell and Catherine Powell, Co-Founders of Pure Cremation

“We are delighted to have achieved this result for the business that Daniel Freedman co-founded and found such a strong partner in the form of Lovell Minnick for the next stage of its growth. Howard and Ben were an excellent support throughout this process, and provided us with first class advice and guidance throughout.”

Elaine Freedman, shareholder of London & Capital

“We chose to partner with LMP because of the firm’s excellent track record of working with management teams to scale and enhance wealth and asset management firms. Their deep experience in the space and our sense of shared values and culture align with our focus on providing an exceptional service and experience for our clients.”

Guy McGlashan, Chief Executive Officer, London & Capital

“We are delighted with the support received from the finnCap Cavendish team throughout this process. Mike and the team ensured that we prepared meticulously, identified the right pool of potential investors and worked closely with us, the management team and our legal advisers to deliver a great outcome for the Shareholders. We wish the Intelling team and RDCP all the best in their next phase of growth.”

Karl Cockwill, Portfolio Director, NVM

“This partnership will enable us accelerate our global growth plans by investing in our people, technology, sales and marketing. I would like to thank the whole team at Cavendish for providing advice and guidance on this transformational transaction.”

Sean Fitzgerald, CEO, Sentenial

“This new partnership is a very exciting opportunity for Tempcover to both consolidate its existing position and provide a platform for further growth into new verticals and markets. Many thanks to Ben and the Cavendish team who provided invaluable advice throughout the process and helped us achieve this great outcome for the Company.”

Alan Inskip, CEO, Tempcover

We were delighted with our decision to engage with Cavendish to advise us on our plans to bring inward investment into the group. Duncan, James Ellis and James Baker brought such complementary skills to our internal deal team. They calmly helped us navigate through all stages of the process, due diligence and through to completion. They were a pleasure to work with and I’d highly recommended them

Steve Wilkie, Chairman and Co-Founder, the Responsible Group

“The Cavendish team led by Joe Stelzer and supported by Chirag Gohil did an outstanding job in identifying Begbies as a perfect home to drive our future growth. Cavendish negotiated an excellent deal and provided invaluable guidance to us through the process.”

Paul Appleton, Managing Partner at David Rubin & Partners

I am delighted that we have secured a new loan facility an that our three existing funders continue to support the business during this challenging period, demonstrating their confidence in Morses Club and our growth and digital diversification strategy.

Paul Smith, CEO, Morses Club PLC