Mortgage Brain in rumoured TrigoldCrystal takeover talks
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Mortgage Brain is in the final stages of takeover negotiations to acquire TrigoldCrystal, Mortgage Strategy understands.
The sourcing system is believed to be seeking shareholder approval for the deal, with an agreement expected in the coming weeks.
A source close to the deal says: “TrigoldCrystal is back on the market, with Mortgage Brain in the latter stages of a takeover.”
The latest accounts for TrigoldCrystal filed at Companies House in July show the group’s subscriber bases reduced by 17% from 23,000 to 19,000 during 2009.
Group revenue fell by 21% from £7.4m in 2008 to £5.8m in 2009. But the impact of this drop was offset by a reduction in operating expenses from £6.8m in 2008 to £5.4m in 2009.
Trigold merged with Crystal in April 2009 to form TrigoldCrystal.
The accounts say: “The merger creates a stronger business with modern technology, substantial distribution and an ability to leverage its web platform in the mortgage, insurance and investment distribution markets.”
Mortgage Intelligence recently announced that it would be switching from TrigoldCrystal’s point-of-sale system to Mortgage Brain’s The Key in January.
This is not the first time TrigoldCrystal has been rumoured to be up for sale. It was reported in 2008 and 2009 that Mortgage Brain had made a bid for the sourcing system in the region of £10m, which was rejected.
But the latest bid is believed to have been well received.
Last week saw the departure of David Aylmer, business development and marketing director at TrigoldCrystal. He has left to join Capstone Mortgage Services as IT director.
Aylmer joined Trigold in December 2006 when the group bought back office IT provider Dashboard.
As part of the deal, Dashboard’s joint managing directors, Aylmer and David Jones, were locked into their roles for an undisclosed period.
Chief executive Mark Lofthouse says Mortgage Brain does not comment on market speculation.
Martin Colyer, joint chief executive officer of TrigoldCrystal, says the two sourcing systems have been married off in the press before with nothing materialising. But he says that he cannot comment on the current speculation.
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