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The REA Group has agreed to acquire a 19.9 per cent interest in non-bank lender Athena Home Loans.
The group - which is also the parent company of major brokerage Mortgage Choice - already has a white-label product range with the lender, Mortgage Choice Freedom.
As reported by The Adviser, REA is now setting aside up to $62 million for the transaction to buy around a fifth of the lender (to be funded from the group’s existing cash reserves).
The proposed investment is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approval, and is expected to complete in one to two months. Once completed, REA will take two seats on Athena’s board.
Speaking of the deal, REA Group CEO Owen Wilson, said the company continues to invest in new technology to accelerate its strategy and deliver “greater value” to consumers, customers, Mortgage Choice brokers and shareholders.
“REA’s proposed investment in Athena will further enhance our existing partnership and reinforces our commitment to providing Australian homebuyers with greater choice and a seamless consumer experience when finding and financing property,” he said.
“Growing our national broker network and evolving our digital mortgage offering for the 12 million Australians who now visit realestate.com.au1 is an important part of our financial services strategy.
“An equity investment builds on the success of our innovative Mortgage Choice Freedom home loan products and forms a strong alliance to support the delivery of our strategy, while also benefitting from Athena’s growing loan portfolio.”
Nathan Walsh, the co-founder and CEO of Athena Home Loans, added: “Athena is on an exciting growth trajectory and we’re thrilled to have the support of a culturally-aligned company like REA, building on the proven success of our partnership to date. REA joins a strong list of Athena investors, and we are proud to be working with this industry leader to continue our mission of changing home loans for good for all Australians.”
What does Athena offer in broker channel?
While Athena launched as a direct-to-consumer digital lender that aims to help borrowers avoid ‘loyalty tax’ and pay down their debt faster, the non-bank has been extending into the broker channel over the past few years.
In 2023, it partnered with Mortgage Choice to launch its new suite of Mortgage Choice Freedom loans (which has now settled more than $1 billion) and appointed a head of distribution to prepare for its acceleration in broker distribution.
The lender announced earlier this year that it had launched a suite of products that aims to support a range of borrowers, including those who are self-employed (via its Self Employed Lite Doc and 80–85 per cent, no lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) products).
Both products were launched via the lender’s aggregator partnerships with LMG (as part of a former partnership with FAST, now part of LMG) and Mortgage Choice, before they become available through Athena’s direct channel and Mortgage Choice Freedom direct (on realestate.com.au) later this year.
It is also now developing a set of digital products for broker clients that provide borrowers with “a fairer, faster and more favourable experience”. To determine what brokers would like to see built into the mortgage product suite, it is currently undertaking a series of co-creation workshops with LMG brokers nationwide to “harness the brokers’ collective expertise and combine it with Athena’s cutting-edge technology”.
The lender also revealed that its Non-natural Persons and Trusts product is set to enter the market in due course.
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