Firstfolio yesterday said it agreed to buy a further stake of 39.3 per cent in mortgage aggregator Lawfund Australia. The group will buy the stake from John Barlow in a mix of cash and shares, with the funds payable over 18 months. Barlow was previously the largest shareholder in Lawfund. Firstfolio will now hold 81.7 per cent of Lawfund.In a media release yesterday Firtstfolio said Lawfund facilitates settlement of $2 billion in loans annually and now has a loan book exceeding $5.7 billion. Firstfolio said it now works with more than 420 mortgage broking partners including some 26 groups signed in the past two months alone. Firstfolio's residential mortgage book now stands at more than $6.9 million.Firstfolio chief executive, Mark Forsyth said of the further investment in Lawfund: "I'm very happy. I thought to get where we are today would take a lot longer and be a lot harder. It's only nine months [since Forsyth and colleagues bought into the company then known as Affiance]."It's true it's a competitive marketplace. People's interest in property has not waned; it's as strong as ever."Forsyth said 2007 would now be "a year of consolidation" with the company sorting out service levels in single premises in Sydney and with more work on developing niche mortgage products.Firstfolio two weeks ago reported a loss of $519,000 for the half year to December 2006, only slightly less than a loss of $561,000 in 2005 under prior management.The new management prefers to highlight an EBITDA profit for the half year of $300,000 which takes into account the consolidation of earnings from the then minority investment in Lawfund and which compares with losses on this profit measure in 2005 and 2006.