Close Brothers buy loan book

4th Jan 2010 16:29

Merchant bank Close Brothers Group has bought up the £94m invoice financing loan book of GMAC Commercial Finance for a maximum of £98m. As part of the acquisition terms, 23 staff will transfer over from GMAC Commercial Finance to Close Brothers.Close Brothers will merge the operations with its own invoice finance business by the end of its financial year, which runs to 31 July 2010.The loan book is expected to break even in the current financial year and then subsequently generate a return on gross assets consistent with the group's banking division by the end of fiscal 2011/12.'We are delighted to announce this acquisition of a high quality loan book in one of our core commercial banking businesses which adds further scale to our invoice finance operations and allows us to leverage our market experience and funding strength to create value for our shareholders,' said Stephen Hodges, managing director of Close Brothers.