We finished 2010 with a completion on 29th December with the sale of Fortress Group (UK) Ltd to Texas based Think  Finance Inc . 

Fortress, which is based in Bury St Edmunds, was founded in 2007 and has grown rapidly  to become a leading UK payday lending business.   It's an entirely online businses trading as "1 Month Loan" and "Mayday Payday".  

Think Finance is one of the US's fastest growing private companies with three year revenue growth of over 70%.  It is privately held and backed by some of Silicon valley's most respected venture capital firms, including Seqoia Capital and Technology Crossover Partners. 

Think will provide capital to accelearate Fortress's expansion - Kieran Moulden, CEO of Fortress said that as a result of the new funding the company aimed to increase its business ten-fold.

We were pleased to work with Kieran and his co-director Stuart Carter over the last year to prepare the company for sale and to market the company internationally.    They have achieved a huge amount in building Fortress to such a strong position in a short period of time.

This is a market which is developing rapidly in the UK.   In contrast it is a mature market in the United States with allegedly more payday lending outlets than branches of McDonalds.   This is not the only US acquiror active in the UK - NASDAQ quoted Dollar Financial Corp is to acquire Purpose UK Holdings the largest UK payday lender for £124M

Have you been wondering how the sovereign debt crisis around Europe will resolve itself.  How does the Euro-economy function?   Well here's an Australian take on how the European economy works.     Thanks to James Lawson for alerting me to this source of wisdom!