Bluestone

Bluestone is now a significantly larger business than at its pre-crisis peak, with a global workforce of over 250 in four countries, net assets of £40m and normalised earnings of over £8m pa. The business is 53% owned by LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Bank, and 14% by Macquarie Bank, with the balance held by the management team and staff. The business has stuck to its pedigree of providing specialist loan products to customers that don't fit traditional lending criteria. This niche was significantly impacted during the financial crisis but is making a steady return to the mainstream, as traditional lenders focus on high volume, automated and commoditised lending. Bluestone lends to the self-employed, recent migrants, contractors and part-time workers and customers that have had prior credit problems. It has lent over £4 billion to the sector since 2000. The business has active capital markets programmes supporting its lending businesses in Australia, Ireland and the UK, most recently placing A$200m of rated notes to largely domestic investors in Australia, its 15th such transaction. The business debuted in Ireland in May 2016 with the Topaz securitisation of €25 million of auto loans originated by Bluestone Asset Finance (Ireland) and completed a second securitisation in October.