The completion of the investment will enable the bank to deliver against its strategic ambition to become one of the leading specialist banks in UK residential and SME markets.

The GBP60 million equity investment from Värde Partners, along with the bank’s existing capital base, will enable Masthaven to significantly increase lending to consumers and SMEs over the next three to five years as well as provide innovative deposit solutions to Masthaven’s customers.

By serving borrowers without access to the traditional high street banking brands, Masthaven has become a force in the UK challenger banking market. Masthaven has demonstrated significant growth in its market niches – namely retail savings, SME lending, short- and long-term property financing across commercial, buy-to-let and specialist residential real estate. Masthaven has also been recognised as the 2018 Most Innovative Digital Retail Bank UK by CFI.

Värde Partners manages USD14 billion in assets and has more than 20 years of experience investing in consumer and commercial credit in the financial services sector.

Andrew Bloom, Masthaven’s founder and CEO, says: “Masthaven has made tremendous strides in the past few years. We have successfully launched specialist residential and buy-to-let mortgages plus bolstered our savings suite by entering the SME savings market, all while growing our team to above 170 people and with a balance sheet in excess of GBP750 million. Now it’s time for us to further enhance our propositions for both our existing customers and intermediary partners as well as our future clients. Masthaven will deploy the Värde Partners investment to bring more capacity to the UK market and enable us to innovate in terms of both our savings and lending propositions.”

Elena Lieskovska, Partner and Head of European Financial Services at Värde Partners, says: “Masthaven is a rising brand in the UK challenger bank scene and we’re thrilled about the opportunity to work together to enhance the bank’s proposition and to take it to the next level. At Värde, we are active in our portfolio companies, favouring the partnership approach to creating value, and that’s exactly how we expect to work with the Masthaven team.”

Michael Baker, Managing Director Joint Ventures at The William Pears Group, Pears being an investor in Masthaven, says: “We’ve backed Masthaven Finance since 2011 together with the launch of Masthaven Bank in 2016 and are pleased to welcome Värde Partners as a new investor and look forward to them being part of the next phase in Masthaven’s journey.”