Specialist lender Shawbrook has struck a deal to acquire motor finance lender JBR Auto Holdings as it looks to expand its car loan offering.
The group announced on Monday that it had agreed to buy JBR for an undisclosed sum and expected the acquisition to complete in the third quarter of this year.
“JBR’s extensive knowledge of this specialist segment within the wider motor finance market is exceptional,” said Marcelino Castrillo, Shawbrook’s chief executive.
“Aligning the business to Shawbrook’s ‘best of both’ approach, combining technology with deep human expertise, this acquisition will help us to extend the JBR proposition to more customers who value a premium experience, flexibility, and certainty when securing finance for their high-end vehicles.”
JBR was founded in 2015 and specialises in high-end vehicles like Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce. The group’s website claims it has lent more than £1bn to date.
Darren Selig, founder and chief commercial officer at JBR, said on Monday: “We are excited for JBR to be joining Shawbrook where we can leverage its established platform and resources to further enhance our customer proposition and serve more customers in our segment of the market.
“It allows us to combine JBR’s specialist expertise with Shawbrook’s broader capabilities, creating a truly unique offering for our clients in the high-end motor finance market.”
Shawbrook has made several acquisitions in recent years, including buying Bluestone Mortgages in 2023.
The group posted a jump in annual profit last year on the back of interest rate hikes and increased lending. It reported a 27 per cent rise in underlying pretax profit to £302m for 2023, from £238m in 2022.
Motor lenders, which lent roughly £16.9bn to UK car owners last year, are currently facing heavy scrutiny over now-banned discretionary commission arrangements, with the Financial Conduct Authority announcing in January that it would launch a review into “unfair” practices.
Analysts have estimated that the industry could be on the hook for up to £16bn in compensation fees.