Private Equity Firm Acquires UK Debt Buyer Cabot Financial from Citi

European private equity firm AnaCap Financial Partners Friday announced the acquisition of UK accounts receivable management firm Cabot Financial. Cabot was previously owned by American banking giant Citi.

The purchase will create the UK’s biggest debt purchasing and collection business, according to AnaCap, as Cabot will be integrated with Apex Credit Management, another market leading debt purchasing and contingency collection agency already owned by AnaCap’s funds.

AnaCap was joined in the purchase by Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners and Partners Group.

Fabrizio Cesario, Managing Director, from AnaCap explains: “The UK’s debt management sector is very fragmented and we believe that creating a large scale provider will facilitate a superior level of service for both corporate customers and consumers. A bigger provider can make the substantial investments in IT and staff required to ensure continued excellence in regulatory compliance as well as providing consumers with higher standards of service and support.”

AnaCap describes Cabot Financial and Apex Credit Management as “highly complementary” and notes that the deal will give both organisations the opportunity to provide a wider range of services to their corporate client base.

“Citi is pleased to have entered into this agreement with AnaCap. This transaction demonstrates continued progress in Citi’s strategy to divest the non-core assets in Citi Holdings while focusing on its core banking strategy.” Citi said of the agreed sale.

Terms of the deal were not officially disclosed, but UK media reports noted that the price tag was $147 million.