Following the announcement in May that Pivotal Growth had agreed to purchase The Loan Partnership subject to FCA approval, that approval has been given and completion has taken place.

The completion sees founder Andy Pelley retire from the business, whilst his co-founder John Webb remains as a director, primarily responsible for the generation of new business.

With Pelley’s departure, Joe Defries is promoted from operations director to managing director, and Sarah Gaffney from operations Manager to operations director.

Simon Embley has also joined as director of The Loan Partnership, completing the formation of the new board.

Embley, CEO of Pivotal Growth, said: “It was always the plan that Andy would retire when completion took place. We met Joe and Sarah before we exchanged contracts for the purchase of TLP and were full of confidence we had the right people to work with to take the business forward.

“The last couple of months have shown us we were right, and we’re delighted to be able to promote them both. It’s been a challenging couple of months for the whole industry, not just The Loan Partnership, and Joe, Sarah, John, and the team have coped admirably and continued to drive strong performance and the right outcomes for our customers.

“I’m confident the business is in safe hands moving forward and I look forward to helping its growth and development.”

Defries added: “It’s a huge honour to be promoted so quickly and I’d like to thank Simon and the Pivotal team for the faith they have placed in me. I have a great team at The Loan Partnership, led so well by Sarah Gaffney, and despite the challenging period the industry is currently going through, I am more convinced than ever we will continue to strengthen and develop TLP.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Andy for the tireless work in setting the foundations and building such a great business.”