Bain Capital provides major investment for finova and buys Iress mortgage business – The Intermediary

Bain Capital Tech Opportunities has agreed to a majority investment in finova, as well as acquiring the Mortgage Sales and Originations software business of Iress (MSO).

By bringing together these two investments, Bain Capital said it expects to offer a fuller set of products to current and potential customers, while continuing to invest in both platforms.

With the mortgage market becoming faster-paced and more complex, the firm said that these combined businesses would be well positioned to meet increasing industry demand for more advanced software.

James Stevens, managing director of Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, said: “We are excited to back a compelling combination of robust platforms with complementary product suites and customer bases.

“The combined scale of these two businesses will allow us to offer more competitive and innovative products in a dynamic market, ultimately bringing more choice to consumers across the country.”

Paraag Davé, executive chairman of finova, added: “Bain Capital’s investment in each business will strengthen and invest in the capabilities of both platforms and help deliver increased value to our customers.

“We are thrilled to blend finova’s SaaS expertise in complex solutions such as pricing, decisioning, specialist lending, savings, and loan servicing with MSO’s leadership in residential mortgage originations.”

Andrew Simon, MSO CEO, said: “This is the ideal outcome for our business and our customers.

“Bain Capital is fully committed to investing in MSO to ensure our customers continue to benefit from software that is amongst the best in the market.

“Through the combined business, we’re looking forward to bringing a broader set of innovative products to market.”

Ian McKenna at the Financial Technology Research Centre told The Intermediary: “In the recent review Iress identified that the UK Mortgage origination business which works with a number of lenders was no longer core to their strategy.

“It’s encouraging to see that they have disposed of this unit quickly in line with their commitment to allow the UK team to focus on its core services to advisers.

“Their adviser customers should be encouraged by the company delivering and their promise to focus on supporting intermediaries.”