Lone Star “factory” opens for business in London

Hudson Advisors Europe, the European arm of the mortgage servicing and advisory business of Dallas-based Lone Star, has opened an office in London.

The opening represents part of business’ expansion in Europe, the firm said in an announcement today.

It has taken a 4,300 square foot office at 1 Finsbury Market in the City of London.

The firm, which currently employs approximately 900 staff worldwide, opened offices in Munch and Frankfurt in 2004 and 2003 respectively, as it made large investments in debt portfolios in Germany.

Lone Star, founded and led by chairman John Grayken  has been increasing its infrastructure in London of late. In April, it hired Angus Dodd, a former managing director of JER Partners in Europe, as its UK acquisitions managing director.

The firm is yet to make any significant investment inroads in the country,but it is understood to have been listed by the firm as one of its key investment targets.

In an in-depth article on Grayken and Lone Star in the June issue of PERE, a number of market sources described Hudson Advisors as a “factory” processing and managing thousands of mortgages with Grayken as the “factory owner”.

The business has resolved more than $31 billion of loans across the globe in the last decade.