One More Thing:Investec's proposed £283 million takeover of Kensington Group could have some interesting implications for their respective sub-prime mortgage arms in Ireland.

Kensington owns 64 per cent of Start Mortgages while Investec is a joint venture partner in Nua Homeloans, which has only been trading for about two months.

Logic would suggest that there's little point in operating competing businesses. Shareholders' agreements might also prevent such a scenario.

Local shareholders are unlikely to want to operate under the one umbrella in a rapidly expanding and potentially lucrative market.

Headed by David Ingram, Start is backed by six local shareholders and began trading in 2005.

It is thought to be the biggest player in a market expected to grow from €1 billion now to €4 billion in a few years.

The local shareholders are believed to have engaged advisers to assess the implications of Kensington's takeover.

Nua, meanwhile, is a joint venture with Finance Ireland, a listed group backed by Billy Kane, a former chief executive of Irish Permanent.

Michael Cullen, Investec's managing director in Ireland, said there was no reason why the South African bank could not continue to operate the businesses on a separate basis.

"There would no problems running two platforms if that's how it ends up," Cullen said.

He cited the fact that Investec operates two brands in the UK - Unity and Affinity.

In terms of Ireland, that might be a case of wishful thinking.