D&B Australian Collection Agency is Up for Sale

by Patrick Lunsford, CollectionIndustry.com

One of Australia?s largest collection agencies confirmed Tuesday reports that it was seeking a change in ownership.

D&B Australasia said today that the largest shareholder in the firm, private equity group AMP Capital Investors, is seeking to sell its 77.5% stake. The management of the firm is also seeking to sell their 20% stake. D&B International holds the remaining 2.5%.

Australian press reported late last week that AMP was looking to sell its stake. D&B Australasia issued a press release Tuesday confirming these reports and adding that the management team was also looking to sell.

D&B Australasia chief executive Christine Christian headed a management-led buyout of the firm in 2001, with AMP backing the executive group. Christian said that selling the stake or taking the firm public down the road was always in the cards.

“We had, for a long time, anticipated that our exit would be in the form of an IPO,” Christian said. “However, we have seen so many alternative options offered over the last 12 months that the D&B board decided we would go down the sale route.”

Some in the Australian press have speculated that Australian collection giant Baycorp may be a buyer. When asked by Australian paper The Age, Christian would not comment on Baycorp except to say, ?Put it this way: we have been pleasantly surprised at the level of interest from both the obvious and the not so obvious buyers.?

The company is currently in the process of issuing an information memorandum to interested parties and anticipates a decision will be announced by the end of the year.