Castle Trust Bank acquired by Sixth Street and Bayview

Castle Trust Bank has been acquired by vehicles backed by Sixth Street, a global investment firm, and affiliates of Bayview Asset Management, a global alternative investment management firm, from JC Flowers & Co, a private equity firm solely focused on financial services.

Sixth Street and Bayview, which will act as equal partners, bring expertise in credit markets and asset-based finance, along with a long-term investment horizon well suited to supporting financial institutions through periods of growth and transformation.

Castle Trust Bank will continue to be led by its management team, including CEO Martin Bischoff.

In addition, Sixth Street and Bayview have agreed to commit additional capital to fuel growth across the business, including expanding the bank’s retail savings franchise, broadening its product offering and attracting additional customer deposits, while also deepening its commitment to specialist property and retail finance through its Omni Capital Retail Finance business.

"This investment from Sixth Street and Bayview is a strong endorsement of our strategy, our people and our future potential,” said Martin.

“We have grown customer savings balances to more than £1.6bn, built a specialist property finance loan book of more than £1.1bn and hold a retail finance loan book exceeding £200m — establishing a strong platform for future growth.

“With the backing of our new shareholders, we are well placed to invest in our customer proposition, expand across retail savings, specialist property and retail finance, and pursue additional growth opportunities while maintaining a disciplined focus on risk and delivering sustainable outcomes for customers, colleagues, brokers, retailers and partners."

Masashi Washida, managing director of asset-based finance at Sixth Street, commented: “We look forward to working with Martin and the highly seasoned management team to support Castle Trust Bank in continuing to deliver the exceptional service its customers expect.

“Together with Bayview, we believe the bank’s experienced leadership and its robust, well-established risk and technology platform create a strong foundation for sustainable growth and scalable operations at an attractive time in the market.”

"Castle Trust Bank has built an impressive reputation for customer service, specialist expertise and prudent growth,” added Pierre Lussato, managing director at Bayview.

"We look forward to supporting the bank's continued growth across savings, specialist lending and retail finance, while it delivers innovative products and excellent customer outcomes.”