Bain Capital to invest in two software platforms serving the mortgage origination and servicing market

Bain Capital, a leading global private investment firm, today announced it has agreed to a majority investment in finova, a leading provider of mortgage and savings origination and servicing software in the United Kingdom, and to acquire the U.K. Mortgage Sales and Originations software business of Iress (“MSO”).

By bringing together these two investments, Bain Capital expects to offer a fuller set of products to current and potential customers, while continuing to invest in both platforms.

finova, based in London, provides a comprehensive suite of modular, open-architecture SaaS-based originations and servicing solutions to help the full spectrum of specialist lenders, equity release lenders, savings institutions, and brokers manage key workflows. Its software enables customers to efficiently manage their pricing and decisioning, underwriting, application processing, and servicing of loans. MSO, based in Cheltenham, is a leading provider specialising in residential mortgage and buy-to-let origination software to banks and building societies in the U.K. since 2014.  

The mortgage market is becoming faster paced and more complex, increasing the need for more sophisticated software tools such as personalised pricing. These combined businesses will be well positioned to meet the demand for more advanced software. Customers will also benefit from a broader software suite that supports a wider range of financial products.  

“We are excited to back a compelling combination of robust platforms with complementary product suites and customer bases,” said James Stevens, a Managing Director of Bain Capital Tech Opportunities in London. “The combined scale of these two businesses will allow us to offer more competitive products during a challenging time within the U.K. mortgage industry, ultimately bringing more choice to consumers across the country.”

Paraag Davé, Executive Chairman of finova, said: “Bain Capital’s investment in each business will strengthen and invest in the capabilities of both platforms and help deliver increased value to our customers. We are thrilled to blend finova’s SaaS expertise in complex solutions such as pricing, decisioning, specialist lending, savings, and loan servicing with MSO’s leadership in residential mortgage originations.”

Andrew Simon, ​MSO CEO, ​said: “This is the ideal outcome for our business and our customers. Bain Capital is fully committed to investing in MSO to ensure our customers continue to benefit from software that is amongst the best in the market. Through the combined business, we're looking forward to bringing a broader set of innovative products to market.”

This transaction is subject to customary approvals.