Positive Lending founder Chris Fairfax is to leave the master broker after acquiring full ownership of short-term lender Catalyst Property Finance.

Fairfax co-founded the master broker with Paul McGonigle in 2009 and the pair went on to found Catalyst in 2017.

Catalyst is now owned by Fairfax in its entirety, after he acquired McGonigle’s half of shares in the lender, which has provided over £250m of short-term funding to date and has a loan book exceeding £100m.

The business is being funded by a combination of institutional and private capital and will launch into new markets later this year. 

Fairfax says: “I am absolutely delighted to have completed the acquisition of Catalyst. After spending over a decade as a specialist finance broker, I launched Catalyst by compiling everything I learned from working with other lenders, good and bad, to create a business I would have loved partnering with as an intermediary.  

“I believe truly understanding the intermediary perspective and my broad experience of the market are key reasons as to why Catalyst has experienced the amazing growth trajectory to date. Looking to the future, we will continue to serve short-term mortgage customers and intermediaries well, and we look forward to expanding to other areas of property lending over the coming months. I would like to thank Paul for his contribution to date and I wish him well for the future success of Positive Lending.” 

McGonigle will continue in his role as chief executive of Positive Lending.