Barclays Bank UK has completed the purchase of Kensington Mortgages for £2.4bn.

Kensington, which has 600 staff and specialises in offering mortgages to the self-employed and borrowers with more complex incomes, has been sold by private equity owners Blackstone and Sixth Street.

The acquisition allows Barclays to become one of the few major banks with a specialist mortgage offering.

As at completion, Kensington’s mortgage portfolio comprised a total of £2.2bn of loans. This included around 74% owner-occupied and 26% buy-to-let residential mortgages, with a weighted average loan-to-value of 75% at origination.

As part of the acquisition, all of Kensington’s employees will become part of the wider Barclays Group and Kensington will continue day-to-day business operations as usual.

The business will retain its brand and be a largely standalone business.

The acquisition, announced on 24 June last year, was made following an auction of the specialist mortgage lender.

Kensington chief executive Mark Arnold comments: “Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter of growth for Kensington.”

We have a strong track-record in the specialist mortgage space, using our proprietary technology, data analytics and human insights to design innovative products and make lending decisions to serve our customer base – the self-employed and those with multiple or variable incomes.”

“As a major UK bank with a broad reach and offering, Barclays is well-placed to support our expansion.”

“We look forward to working with them closely to bring our propositions to a wider range of individuals across the UK. And as we enter this new chapter, we would like to thank Blackstone and Sixth Street for all their support and investment over the last eight years.”