After the deal, which is due to be completed on June 30, Pioneer will have a loan book of close to $2 billion.
Pioneer’s New Zealand manager Peter Anderson says the two brands will remain separate and they will continue to build their relationships with third party distribution networks.
While neither party has disclosed the size of their loan portfolios, Pioneer was twice the size of Pacific.
Anderson says that the two businesses are complimentary, with Pacific gaining good support from the provinces and doing well in the lo-doc market, while Pioneer had strengths in the big cities, particularly Auckland, and in dealing with complex applications.
“Pioneer and Pacific have been attracted to the considerable synergies that exist between the two companies as well as the complementary business sources through broker networks,” he says.
Anderson says the deal could be interpreted as the start of rationalisation within the non-bank lending sector. He says that is inevitable considering the number of players, technology and the fact that many lenders have the same funders.
Also there has been rationalisation in the big end of town with the likes of ANZ and National Bank getting together.
He indicated Pioneer was in expansion mode: “We have quite big ambitions,” he said.
Pacific Home Loans boss Roger Poulter says he will be a consultant to the merged business until the end of the year.
After that he is looking at developing some other opportunities in the mortgage world.
