UK digital bank Chetwood Financial (Chetwood) has completed the acquisition of the buy to let mortgage lender CHL Mortgages for Intermediaries (CMI) from Barossa Asset Purchaser Sarl (Barossa).

Chetwood entered a competitive bidding process to acquire the lender, which trades as CHL Mortgages, to grow a well-regarded business and access its experienced mortgage lending team, which will enhance the skills and experience already in place.

Throughout the process, Chetwood, CMI and Barossa have been focused on ensuring there is a seamless transition between owners. CMI will continue to operate as usual with no planned downtime or impact to its lending operations.

The move will also enable Chetwood to grow its mortgage loan book and expand its reach within the mortgage intermediary market, while CMI’s specialist lending team will complement Chetwood’s soon-to-launch ModaMortgages’ proposition.

Like CMI, ModaMortgages will be a specialist buy to let lender, with both operating exclusively through intermediaries. However, there will be differences between the two – CMI offers the flexibility of blending technology and manual underwriting across a wide criteria range, while ModaMortgages will provide an automated process focused on fast decisions.

The two lenders will co-exist independently, each with its own brands, products and teams who will complement one another, but also benefit from the sharing of skills, experience and expertise by being a part of Chetwood Financial.

Chetwood Financial’s founder and CEO, Andy Mielczarek, said: “When the chance presented itself to acquire CMI, we felt it was simply too good an opportunity to miss out on, so we’re delighted that the deal is now complete. CMI is an established, respected brand in the specialist lending space, and we have ambitions to grow operations further in the months and years to come.

“The CMI proposition will complement that of our soon-to-launch ModaMortgages’ proposition perfectly. We’re excited to see both brands flourish side-by-side – and while they will operate independently, there’s no doubt that having so much specialist lending knowledge and skill within Chetwood will only contribute to their respective successes.”

Ross Turrell, Commercial Director at CMI, added: “This is a fantastic opportunity to join forces with a digital bank well established in funding buy to let mortgages through the intermediary market. Chetwood’s ambitious growth plans, which include the launch of ModaMortgages, will enable us to continue to develop our competitive product range and broad criteria offering which has been well received by our intermediary partners.

“It’s an exciting next step on our journey and one which the management team and colleagues at CMI is very much looking forward to taking.”