Mortgage funder Pepper Australia is diversifying with the acquisition of a real estate advisory business.Pepper announced yesterday that it had reached agreement to buy Grant Samuel Property. It plans to develop a range of commercial loans to complement the new business.It is the third acquisition in as many months for a firm founded in the mid-2000s as a specialist provider of non-conforming home loans. In May Pepper announced the purchase of a A$150 million equipment finance portfolio from Suncorp Metway. Last month the firm acquired a €600 million portfolio of Irish mortgages from GE Capital.Grant Samuel Property, to be renamed Pepper Property Group, was established in 1991. Its tenant representation service includes BHP, KPMG, Macquarie Group and JP Morgan among its clients. It also does development site work, capital structuring for developers and property fund managers, and it has an investment management arm that puts together syndicates.Grant Samuel Property's executive director, Christian McKelvey, said the company was looking for a partner that would give it a capital base for expansion. McKelvey said: "We want to have global reach. Australian corporates want advice when they look for space offshore."Pepper has offices in London and Singapore. We will put personnel in those offices."He said Pepper's loans would be complementary to the existing services. "There are gaps in the market in areas such as the provision of fitout finance."We will have a preferred but not exclusive arrangement with Pepper when it comes to finance."Pepper did not disclose the price of the acquisition.