Home of Choice in acquisition talks

26 April 2010 | By Natalie Thomas, Natalie Thomas

Home of Choice is in final negotiations with an investor to acquire the business.

Rumours are rife that Keith Carby, former chief executive of Openwork, is looking to buy the mortgage network and incorporate it into his IFA business Foster Denovo.

This has required a change of control notification to the FSA which was approved last week.

During this time the network has been unable to process the BACS payment files in the usual way, and as a result brokers and staff were not paid last Friday.

Following discussions with all parties, including the bank and the investor, the network says it fully expected to be able to arrange payments to staff and brokers this morning.

However, due to the complexities of deal, this has not been possible and is now likely to be delayed for another couple of days.

Gerry O’Brien, chief executive of Home of Choice, says: “I am hugely disappointed that these payments have not taken place as expected. We are in urgent discussion with all concerned and will make a further announcement as soon as possible.

“Our overriding wish is for brokers and staff to be paid what is owed to them and we will endeavor to bring this to a swift conclusion.”

A further announcement is expected to be made this afternoon.

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Readers' comments (31)

john higgins | 26 Apr 2010 1:14 pm
what a load of rubbish. The only reason staff are not paid is because the company has no money. If the company cant process BACS then pay the staff by cheque. The headline should be 'Home of Choice in Survival Talks'. i really hope HOC survive as i have been a fan of their network since day one, but don't be naive they are struggling for survival.
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Anonymous | 26 Apr 2010 1:29 pm
I do hope that this is not going to be another Network Data Ltd. situation.
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Kieran Byrne | 26 Apr 2010 2:11 pm
My view is that the guys who run the business DO know what they are doing.

We are all self employed had have had business cashflow hiccups. H O C is a company who does think outside the box.I have been with them 2 years and am WELL pleased with how I have been treated so I vote for giving the guys the benefit of the doubt.
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Susan Smith | 26 Apr 2010 2:40 pm
What fantastic news !! If Keith Carby is getting involved with Home Of Choice this can only be a good thing especially form the investment/pension growth of the business - he has a fabulous reputation and many years of experience we will all benefit from
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Anonymous | 26 Apr 2010 2:47 pm
I hope that HOC are ok, I really do but I can't help but think that they are not though. I don't understand what the acquisition talks have got to do with paying of commissions and salaries via the bachs system. It sounds like a smoke screen to me. There's only ever one reason why a company can't pay out and that's because it hasn't got any money!
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Tom | 26 Apr 2010 2:51 pm
I hope that this isn't going to become another ND / MT scenario.

Sadly, I think that many people will already be chasing other networks though I do hope HoC survive as they are one of the better networks around.
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Gerard Mc Geown | 26 Apr 2010 2:54 pm
We all here at Orchard stand by HOC and like all businesses they may be experiencing problems. My motto is stay CALM
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Anonymous | 26 Apr 2010 3:35 pm
I am an employee of Home of Choice and as far as I am concerned this is fantastic news. Stop scaremongering and wait until all the legals are sorted out then we'll see that this for what it is - a storm in a teacup.
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Gerald King | 26 Apr 2010 3:35 pm
I am an AR of HOC and very worried. My charges have been going up, the contract getting tighter in HOC favour. Now they have missed a payment. What next. How can the Directors carry on running a network,look at all the other mortgage networks, time to leave..
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Gary Darcy | 26 Apr 2010 3:41 pm
All the networks that have gone bust (Prestbury, Network Data, Mortgage Times) recently have a few things in common. 1. They are all networks! as said previously in the thread the business model is flawed in the current market. 2. They were focused only on the Mortgage Market and hadn't diversified into wider financial services. 3. They did not have scale i.e. less than 1000 advisers. 4. Negative balance sheets and debt ridden. Need to move with the times, and look forward, not back, if you are an AR with HOC you need to be considering your position and looking at the business model not just jumping from one AR proposition to another as history will just repeat itself until the model dies out, survival of the fittest!

Modern times call for a modern business. Networks are yesterdays pizza.
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