Buy to let mortgage provider Paragon looks to make new acquisitions.
The buy to let mortgage provider Paragon has announced that its parent company, The Paragon Group of Companies, has decided to explore acquisition opportunities after they posted a quarterly rise in profits. The company's operating profits rose to £20.3 million at the end of 2011 which is a 12 % increase on the previous December's figures.
The buy to let mortgage provider had already made several acquisitions during 2011, which included the purchase of assets from both the MBNA and the Royal Bank of Scotland. A spokesperson for Paragon advised that its loan portfolio performance had met the company's expectations and the lender added that they intended to look for other for other opportunities this year.
In the final quarter of 2011 the lender advanced just over £37 million in buy-to-let loans and a further £1.2 million loans were advanced in remortgaging products to existing borrowers. Paragon said that the quality of its new business during the last quarter of 2011 had been excellent and they added that its new acquisitions will become increasingly important to the group business activity in 2012.
The buy to let mortgage lender said last year, first-time buyers had been pushed out of the property market and were forced into rent for longer which, had led to an increase rents meaning they hit their highest level for years. This situation had been positive for their customers who are UK's landlords who, as a result have seen their rental income rise to highly profitable levels.
