Johannesburg, South Africa – International financial services company LoanLink has announced major acquisitions across various sectors of the South African bond origination market.
As well as buying a controlling stake in Wizard Financial Services, and a 100% stake of Quantro Home Loans, LoanLink has acquired a controlling stake in real-estate software specialist Octagon Business Solutions. Octagon has a wide product offering in the mortgage and credit industries including credit scoring and processing, mortgage registration, debtor management and debt recovery.
Graeme Lupton, Chairman of LoanLink International, says Octagon is a respected business solutions brand and was a perfect fit for the group.
“We already have an interchange program of credit technology between Australia and South Africa,” he says.
Octagon Managing Director, Greg Brill, said earlier this week that LoanLink will enable Octagon to consolidate its lead in the provision of software solutions to the origination and credit industries.
“There are also exciting opportunities for Octagon to diversify its earnings base into the foreign currencies in the other countries where LoanLink brands operate,” says Brill. “LoanLink has offices and brands in the bond and financial software industries in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and most recently South Africa. Property is the foundation stone of any economy and South Africans can be pleased with the confidence displayed by LoanLink investing in our country.
Lupton adds that LoanLink is planning to springboard off the Wizard and Quantro brands and that these two origination companies together with Octagon Business Solutions constituted only the first phase of the LoanLink strategy in South Africa.
“LoanLink is busy with various acquisitions, joint ventures and will concentrate on building superior relationships based on trust and tangible performance across the financial services industry and had firm plans to add substantially to this already sizeable distribution platform. Although the traditional bond origination business is the cornerstone of our strategy, we will offer development finance, bridging facilities and agent commission discounting together with a substantial loyalty program. It is also envisaged that many other insurance and investment products and even credit cards will be distributed through the LoanLink channels.
“The bottom line is that LoanLink’s international experience, industry-leading IT solutions and financial muscle, together with our estate agent and consumer driven and focused approach, will lead us in the right direction and maintain our dominant role in this R4.5 billion ($588 million) per month industry.”
