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PEXA acquires law firm, continues UK expansion
PEXA has continued its expansion into the UK market with the acquisition of a specialist property and remortgage law firm, which has a 22 per cent share of the UK remortgage market.
Lauren Croft
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In an announcement to the ASX on Thursday (8 September), PEXA confirmed its acquisition of British remortgage processing firm Optima Legal from Capita.
This news follows the release of PEXA’s financial results last month, which showed a revenue increase of 27 per cent and more than $900 billion settled through the property exchange platform.
Headquartered in Leeds, Optima Legal is a high-volume remortgage processing firm, with approximately 22 per cent share of the remortgage market and direct relationships with six of the UK’s top eight lenders. Unlike the Australian market, the UK conveyancing industry directly assists banking industry clients with remortgage transactions.
This comes after PEXA’s UK platform went live on Wednesday, with the first remortgage transaction successfully completed. This acquisition will integrate the UK platform into Optima Legal’s systems, further supporting the digital property settlement group’s global growth plans.
PEXA Group managing director and chief executive Glenn King said the acquisition would mean PEXA will be able to demonstrate the benefits of its platform at scale — and “presents a fantastic opportunity to facilitate the roll-out of digital property settlements in the UK”.
“In Australia the market understands and has already largely embraced the benefits of a digital property settlement solution, so we look forward to demonstrating that value to a new audience. A recent consumer survey conducted by PEXA concluded that as many as one in five UK mortgage borrowers looking to remortgage in the past 24 months abandoned the process altogether,” he said.
“A digital settlement solution will deliver improved accuracy and efficiency while reducing costs. Given the significant volume of remortgaging activity in the UK market — and with volumes expected to increase as interest rates continue to rise — more streamlined systems are urgently needed for the benefit of conveyancers, lenders and, ultimately, borrowers.”
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
