Mortgage Advice Bureau acquired an 80% stake in First Mortgage, one of the UK's leading omni-channel, independent mortgage brokers, Direct for £16.5m. Commenting on the Acquisition, Ben Thompson, Managing Director of Mortgage Advice Bureau, said: "This acquisition is central and complementary to our strategic objective to grow our market share of new mortgage lending. First Mortgage is a highly reputable, forward thinking business of significant scale with a clear strategy to deliver further strong year on year growth. This enables us to pursue at pace our aim to accelerate Group growth through excelling in areas of specialisation, and in particular, building on our omni-channel choice for customers. This approach best positions MAB to benefit in an evolving intermediary sector. MAB's new technology developments will further strengthen our capability and ambition in this regard.