Barclays, a universal bank, completed the acquisition of Kensington Mortgages, a mortgage lender, from Blackstone and Sixth Street, two investment firms, for $2.8bn. “The transaction reinforces our commitment to the UK residential mortgage market and presents an exciting opportunity to broaden our product range and capabilities. KMC is a best-in-class specialist mortgage lender with an established track record in the UK market, strong broker and customer relationships and data analytics capabilities. KMC complements our existing UK mortgage business and broker relationships through the addition of a specialist prime mortgage originator and the utilisation of our strong UK funding base. We look forward to KMC management and employees becoming part of the Barclays group,” Matt Hammerstein, Barclays CEO.