Recludo Group is making moves, scooping up several broking firms.
The Australian private equity firm is on a deal-making spree, having snapped up three mortgage brokerages – including PBI Mortgages, Vision Finance and an undisclosed third firm – along with two loan books that were rolled into one of the acquisitions, since March 2025. The acquisitions have pushed its loan portfolio past $1 billion, with another $1.2 billion in deals currently in the pipeline, the firm said.
"We are delighted to announce some great additions to the Recludo family and deliver on the expectations we set in launching Recludo," said the firm's chief executive officer, Tim Brown.
In December of last year, the firm laid out plans to supercharge approximately 50 brokerages in five years, beginning by taking a stake in three or four brokerages in 2025's first quarter.
The following May, former Fintelligence CEO Chris Slater joined the team as Recludo's head of strategic growth.
"There's a lot more to do, but a couple of the acquisitions have been on our books for the last few months and have already shown some strong growth," Brown said.
Brown added that Recludo has a "strong pipeline of opportunities" on its calendar. "And a few that are pretty close to being locked away. So momentum is building," he said.
Recludo works by partnering with sole-trader-style brokerages, injecting capital to help them scale, making succession plans and ultimately positioning the firms for a resale.
It comes at a time when the mortgage industry is leaning harder than ever on brokers, who now settle nearly 77% of all residential home loans, according to the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia's (MFAA) latest data.
At the same time, while global M&A activity has been on a downward spiral since early 2022 – having fallen 26% between 2022 and 2023, according to S&P Global – Australia seems to be bucking the trend. Total deal volume rose 30% in 2024, compared with 2023, according to MergerMarket data.
Examples can be seen everywhere. In April members of Bank Australia and Qudos Bank approved a merger. That same month, Regional Australia Bank and Summerland Bank formally agreed to merge their operations by 2026. There's also Auswide Bank and MyState Bank Limited, G&C Mutual Bank and Unity Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank Limited and Australian Mutual Bank Limited, and People's Choice and Heritage Bank. Australian brokerages are getting into the M&A action as well.
"There's plenty of [M&A] activity," Slater told Australian Broker.
