Australian specialist mortgage lender, Pepper Australia Pty Limited today announced that it has successfully concluded its acquisition of a $5.0 billion residential mortgage portfolio originated by GE Capital in Australia and New Zealand. The acquisition was initially announced on 25 May 2011.

Patrick Tuttle, Pepper's managing director and chief executive officer, reiterated what this meant for the company's future business in both Australia and New Zealand.

"The acquisition of this loan portfolio is transformational for Pepper. It enables us to grow assets under management quickly at a time when non-bank lenders are seeking to grow their market share, rebuild a competitive marketplace, and broaden the choice of home lending options for consumers," he said.

"We now look forward to completing the detailed integration of day-to-day servicing and management of the GE Capital loan book with Pepper's existing lending and third-party servicing operations. This will create employment opportunities as we establish a new loan servicing and customer service centre in Parramatta, further expanding upon our existing origination and servicing platform located in North Sydney."

Mike Culhane Pepper's executive chairman, paid tribute to the strong support and instrumental role played by the firm's senior facility providers, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation, as well as mezzanine investors comprising Deutsche Bank AG, Värde Partners, Inc, York Capital Management, IFM's Alternative Fixed Income Fund, MKM Capital and Sturt Capital.