Founding Directors leave Y3S Bridging & Commercial after acquisition by Specialist Mortgage Group

By Bridging Loan Directory 30th March 2021

Specialist Mortgage Group (SMG), the group of packaging firms committed to specialist finance, has today announced it has acquired the full share capital from its founding directors, Nathan Raffour and Andrew Gage.

After recently celebrating its 10^th anniversary, Y3S Bridging & Commercial will now join Y3S Loans under one roof at Cardiff-based SMG’s Neptune Court headquarters.

The acquisition means Y3S Bridging & Commercial’s founding directors, Nathan Raffour and Andrew Gage, leave the business after 10 years’ service while the remaining staff will join the wider Y3S team.

In their time at the business, Raffour and Gage each arranged an average of £10m per month in specialist mortgages and have plans to work in a number of areas including refurbishments and small developments, plus fintech projects, in the future.

Cardiff-based Specialist Mortgage Group, previously known as Y3S Group, also includes the packager businesses Y3S Loans, Y3S Private Clients, B2B Financial, and Chaseblue Loans.

Barney Drake, CEO of Specialist Mortgage Group, commented:

“Over the last 10 years Y3S Bridging & Commercial has achieved considerable success and now seems like a very natural time for us to bring the business fully within our operation, and to deliver a streamlined operation with all the Y3S team under one roof.

We will benefit from a very strong team and a proposition which is well-known for service quality and excellence.

Having everyone working closely together will also make the client referral process between the two companies much easier and we will be looking to make the most of the opportunities this affords us.

We’ve very amicably agreed the commercial terms of this share capital acquisition with Nathan and Andrew and we are incredibly grateful for the contribution they have made to both Y3S and SMG over the last decade.

They leave with our very best wishes and we have no doubt that in seeking pastures new, they are going to go on and achieve great things in the financial services sector.”

Nathan Raffour said:

“It has been hugely rewarding to go from a two-person office to a modern 2,500 sq ft space which held 28 staff. Equally, it has been a privilege to have witnessed the achievements of our team, helped by providing expert training, support and qualifications in their roles.”

Andrew Gage added:

“Just over 10 years ago, we made the leap from being employees to starting a new business and there have been plenty of ups and downs along the way.

We’ve always been humble in our approach and instilled that in the people we have worked with, which has filtered down to our clients and the relationships we hold.

It has been an absolute honour to see staff, with our training and guidance, flourish and gain fantastic careers.

We have a number of exciting plans that we’ll embark upon and see plenty of opportunities in technology and the specialist finance industry that we intend to take.”