Blackstone : and TSSP Agree to Acquire Kensington Group

London, 9 September 2014: Funds managed and/or advised by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities ("Blackstone") and by TPG Special Situations Partners ("TSSP") announce that they have agreed to acquire Kensington, the specialty UK residential mortgage lender, from Investec plc.

Kensington has been a leading player in the UK specialist residential and buy-to-let mortgage market since its establishment in 1994.  Kensington was listed on the London Stock Exchange from 2000 until 2007. 

Blackstone and TSSP intend to develop Kensington's mortgage lending business and broader speciality finance capabilities, and are appointing Ian Henderson as Group Chief Executive to lead that strategy.  He was previously Chief Executive of Shawbrook, the leading specialist bank.  Keith Street will continue to lead the Kensington mortgage business.

David Blitzer, head of Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, said:

"Kensington presents an exciting opportunity to back a high quality management team and to invest in the UK mortgage market.  Kensington is a best-in-class specialist lender with an established track record in the UK and strong customer relationships.  We will invest in growing the business in the mortgage space as well as extending the range of its activities in specialty finance."

Michael Muscolino, of TSSP, said:

"Our investment in Kensington provides a unique opportunity to acquire a portfolio of scale and a platform to originate new mortgages.  We look forward to working with our partners, Blackstone, and this best-in-class management team to grow the existing mortgage business, as well as develop a broader, full-cycle specialty finance platform."

Ian Henderson, incoming Group Chief Executive of Kensington, said:

"I am delighted to join Kensington and look forward to working with Keith Street and the management team under new ownership.  Kensington is an outstanding business and we will use its expertise and market position to broaden our product range for new and existing customers."

Completion of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory and anti-trust approvals.

For further information:

Blackstone
Andrew Dowler
+44 (0)20 7451 4275

TPG
Charlie Harrison
+44 (0)20 3772 2579

Kensington
Alex Hammond
+44 (0)20 7597 2961
+44 (0)7855 303 448

About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the world's leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with almost $300 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Blackstone also provides various financial advisory services, including financial and strategic advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement services. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

Blackstone's Tactical Opportunities business employs an opportunistic, multi-asset class investment strategy focused on special situations investments.  Tactical Opportunities seeks to invest globally in opportunities throughout the capital structure.  The strategy leverages the deep synergies and experience that exist across Blackstone's leading alternative asset and advisory platform to generate attractive opportunities.   

About TPG Special Situations Partners

TPG Special Situations Partners ("TSSP") is the dedicated credit and special situations platform of TPG, a leading global private investment firm. TSSP manages over $10 billion and includes the TPG Opportunities Partners, TPG Specialty Lending and TPG Institutional Credit Partners platforms. TSSP has extensive experience with global public and private investments executed through primary originations, secondary market purchases and restructurings.

TPG was founded in 1992 and has more than $66 billion of assets under management and offices in San Francisco, Fort Worth, Austin, Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, Paris, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. The firm's investments span a variety of industries including financial services, travel and entertainment, technology, energy, industrials, retail, consumer, real estate, media and communications, and healthcare. For more information visit www.tpg.com

About Kensington

Kensington, an established leader in the specialist mortgage market, has been trading successfully for almost 20 years and was one of the founders of the UK specialist lending market, developing industry-leading underwriting capabilities.

The business has a well-known brand which is highly recognised in the intermediary market and has a history of innovation dating back to its establishment. Leveraging the breadth and depth of its intermediary relationships, Kensington has developed a proven origination platform which has historically delivered significant volumes of residential and buy-to-let lending and, since 2009, it has focused on prime customers with complex needs. For the year ended 31 March 2014, Kensington had gross assets of GBP3.7 billion, approximately 140 employees and about 30,000 customers.