Fairstone Bank and Home Trust join to create the leading alternative lender in Canada

On January 8, 2025, Fairstone Bank of Canada ("Fairstone Bank") and Home Trust Company ("Home Trust") confirmed the closing of the combination transaction announced on March 26, 2024.

The new combined group will operate under the parent legal entity, Fairstone Bank, and include a family of well-established brands, including Home Trust, Oaken Financial, Home Bank, Fairstone, EdenPark and Fig.

The combination establishes the Fairstone Bank group as the leading alternative lender in Canada, servicing over 4,700 mortgage brokers and 2 million customers, with an extensive national footprint including more than 255 branches from coast to coast.

Smith Financial Corporation now owns a majority voting interest in Fairstone Bank. Centerbridge Partners, L.P., Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board and management continue as minority shareholders in Fairstone Bank.

Further information can be found on Canada Newswire’s website.

Home Trust is a federally regulated trust company offering residential and non-residential mortgage lending, securitization of residential mortgage products, consumer lending and credit card services. In addition, Home Trust Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Home Bank, offer deposits via brokers and financial planners, and through a direct-to-consumer brand, Oaken Financial. Licensed to conduct business across Canada, Home Trust has offices in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Québec.

Fairstone Bank and its subsidiary, Fairstone Financial Inc., provide a wide range of innovative financial services that enable Canadian consumers and businesses to achieve their goals. Collectively, Fairstone Bank and its subsidiaries offer credit cards and rewards programs, point-of-sale financing, automobile financing and fully digital personal loans through partners, in addition to unsecured and secured personal loans and mortgages online and at more than 250 branches coast to coast.

Smith Financial is a family enterprise founded by Stephen Smith, one of Canada's leading financial services entrepreneurs. It invests for the long term in market-leading financial services companies with proven brands, client relationships and management teams.

Centerbridge is a private investment management firm employing a flexible approach across investment disciplines—private equity, private credit and real estate—in an effort to develop the most attractive opportunities for our investors.

Ontario Teachers' is a global investor with net assets of C$255.8 billion as at June 30, 2024. It invests in more than 50 countries in a broad array of assets including public and private equities, fixed income, credit, commodities, natural resources, infrastructure, real estate and venture growth for 340,000 working members and pensioners.