Enra Specialist Finance has announced that Elliott Advisors is to acquire a majority stake in the firm.

The transaction, subject to FCA approval, today is the culmination of a process that saw several global investment companies competing to acquire Enra.

Elliott is acquiring its stake from management and Exponent Private Equity which has owned Enra for five years and is now exiting its ownership position completely.

Enra founder and CEO, Danny Waters, commented: “In Elliott we have found a partner that has deep experience in the UK mortgage market, and the ambition to support Enra’s continuing growth as the pre-eminent specialist lending business in the UK.

“Its desire to acquire Enra is a great validation of the business we have built over the last 19 years, and a huge vote of confidence in the strength of our future business plans. This will be Enra’s third private equity transaction in the last 10 years and our continuing success has been made possible through the hard work of my team at Enra.”

Mark Taylor from Exponent Private Equity added: “It has been a privilege to partner with Waters and his team. Since we backed in Enra in 2017, the business has grown into the leading non-bank mortgage lender in the UK, underpinned by its best-in-class distribution, credit performance and growth. We are delighted with the outcome and are confident Enra will continue to thrive with Elliott Advisors’ backing.”

Enra also confirmed that Amit Sharma and Richard Monahan from Elliott will join its Board, and Monahan added: “We have been active investors in the UK lending market for many years with stakes in businesses such as Charter Court Financial Services and OneSavings Bank.

“In the last five years we have seen Enra expand rapidly from bridging loans into development finance, second charge lending and most recently specialist buy-to-let, and we recognise a business that has the capacity to deliver further significant growth at attractive levels of risk-adjusted return.”

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