Shopacheck Financial Services sold to private investment company
YORKSHIRE doorstep lender Shopacheck Financial Services (SFS) has been sold.
The firm, based in Birstall near Leeds, has been acquired by Rcapital, the London-based private investment company.
Lawyers at Walker Morris, Leeds, advised Welcome Financial Services – a subsidiary of sub-prime lender Cattles – on the sale. Cattles was also the parent company of Shopacheck.
The deal will see Shopacheck merge with Rcapital’s existing home collected credit business, Morses Club (MCL). The revenue of the newly formed business is expected to be in the region of £80m.
SFS is currently the number two in the UK home collected credit market, behind Provident Financial. Combining MCL, currently ranked at number four, with SFS will form a new business with over 500 employees and 2,100 agents, creating the largest independent home collected credit business in the UK, Rcapital says.
Rcapital CEO, Jamie Constable, said: “MCL has a reputation as ‘best of breed’ in the industry and our intention is to merge the two businesses, building on the strengths of both companies. This new deal is a big step forward and will firm up the future direction of the SFS business. Since Rcapital invested in MCL, it has become one of the strongest and most profitable businesses in its sector. Our intention is to develop the newly combined business to the same level.”
Paul Emmett, corporate partner, who led the Walker Morris team, said: “We were delighted to continue our long association with Cattles by advising on this complex disposal which has taken around a year to bring to fruition and has involved a large team of lawyers from various disciplines across the firm.”
Paul Emmett was assisted by corporate lawyers Joy Irving and Oliver Duke, regulatory led by Jeanette Harwood, property Harry Loffman and employment Andrew Rayment and Shakeel Dad.
Cattles was a FTSE 250 company specialising in sub-prime lending but it got into difficulties when accounting irregularities were uncovered, revealing that it had been understating its bad debts and overstating its profits.
The company’s shares were suspended in April 2009. Cattles left the stockmarket in 2011 after its shares were bought by Bovess.
