Bold buyout defies the credit crunch

A GUERNSEY businessman has bought out the majority shareholders in his UK business.

Barney Drake, who owns Cardiff-based y3s.loans.com with business partner Matt Cottle, has shown confidence in his industry despite the credit crunch by purchasing the balance of the shareholdings in the company and its associated subsidiaries, Intelligent Loans and b2b Loans & Mortgages, from the Monaco based venture capitalist Marc Bertola of Vantage Group, which operates a variety of financial interests including commercial and residential funding organisations and a secured loan network.

The deal now gives Mr Drake and Mr Cottle full ownership of the business and marks a new era for the group which started as a small credit brokerage seven years ago employing just three people at a small flexible office in Cardiff Bay, with its initial capital provided by Bertola.

The group now employs around 70 staff on three sites in the city, with the head office situated in Cardiff Bay in a state-of-the-art purpose-built office.