BetterHome Group has today announced a significant step in its UK growth strategy: Subject to FCA approval, Group CEO Rudi Botha will take on the role of CEO of the Group’s UK business, effective immediately, leading the next phase of expansion through HLPartnership, the largest privately owned mortgage and protection network in the United Kingdom.
Botha will relocate to the UK to lead the business on the ground, working closely with the HLPartnership team, its members and its partners, while remaining actively involved in the Group’s overall strategy.
The UK mortgage market is one of the most sophisticated and competitive in the world, with annual gross mortgage lending in the hundreds of billions of pounds and a deeply entrepreneurial intermediary sector. Independent advisers and broker firms originate the majority of UK mortgages, and networks like HLPartnership sit at the heart of that ecosystem, supporting thousands of small and growing businesses with technology, compliance, lender access and commercial support. It is a market built on relationships, advice and trust, and one where well-run networks have a long runway for growth.
“The UK is an extraordinary market, and HLPartnership is an extraordinary business within it,” says Botha. “You have an entrepreneurial broker community, world-class lenders and a regulatory framework that rewards quality advice. Our job now is to back the brokers and partner businesses in the network, invest in the platform and the proposition, and help HLPartnership write the next chapter of its growth.”
HLPartnership, established in 2001 and headquartered in Leicester, supports more than 1,157 advisers and over 568 partner businesses, with its network managing in excess of £13,4 billion in mortgage registrations annually. The business has been named “Best National Network Partner” at the Legal & General Mortgage Club Awards on multiple occasions and has built a strong reputation among advisers, lenders and providers across the UK.
Much of that success has been built under the leadership of Chris Tanner, who has served as CEO of HLPartnership and who hands over to Botha from today. Under Tanner’s stewardship, HLPartnership has grown into the UK’s largest privately owned mortgage and protection network, deepened its proprietary technology platform, expanded through strategic acquisitions and built a culture of close partnership with its member firms, the foundation on which the next stage of growth will be built.
Tanner will continue with the business as an advisor, with a particular focus on member and client relationships across the network.
“It has been a privilege to lead HLPartnership and to work alongside such a talented team and such a high-quality network of member firms,” says Tanner. “Rudi and BetterHome Group share our values and our ambition for advisers, and I’m delighted to be staying involved as an advisor. The business is in great hands, and there is a real opportunity ahead of us.”
Botha added: “Chris has built a remarkable business and a remarkable legacy. HLPartnership today is one of the most respected networks in the UK, and that is down to the culture, the people and the partner-first approach Chris and the team have built over many years. I’m genuinely fortunate to be picking up the baton from him, and even more fortunate that he is staying close to the business as we go forward.”
BetterHome Group’s 2024 investment in HLPartnership followed an extensive search for the right UK partner. A central part of the investment thesis was the close cultural and operational alignment between HLPartnership and BetterHome Group’s South African business, both built around independent advisers, both technology-led, and both grounded in long-term partnerships with brokers and lenders. That alignment is now translating into tangible support for the UK business, with the Group’s South African capabilities in technology, data, product and operations already adding value to HLPartnership’s growth agenda.
BetterHome Group’s South African operations will continue unchanged, with Charl Bruyns stepping into the role of CEO of BetterHome Group South Africa. Charl rejoined the Group in 2021 and, across two periods with the business spanning a decade in total, has played an integral role in shaping its strategy and operations. He is well positioned to lead the South African business into its next phase of growth.
“Our investment in HLPartnership was driven by both the scale of the UK opportunity and the strength of the alignment between our businesses,” says Botha. “We have the right leadership, the right team and the right partner network in place, and my focus will be on working closely with the HLPartnership leadership team and our member firms to protect and build on what has already been created. HLPartnership has a solid base, a high-quality network, a proprietary technology platform, deep lender relationships and a partner-first culture. Our job now is to leverage that base while pursuing new strategic opportunities: deepening the proposition for advisers, broadening the products and services available across the network, investing further in technology and data, and exploring complementary growth across the UK mortgage and protection ecosystem. There is a real opportunity to take a great business into its next chapter of growth, and to do it in close partnership with the brokers, partner firms and lenders who have helped build it.”
