Asta Delaying Quarterly Filing Due to Large Portfolio Purchase

Debt purchasing giant Asta Funding submitted a Notification of Late Filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday informing the agency that it would not meet the deadline for filing its quarterly report for the first quarter of 2007.

Asta said in the filing that their announced deal in February involving a $6.9 billion debt portfolio purchase was the main culprit.  The transaction closed in early March.  The company paid $300 million for the portfolio.

“Due to time constraints arising from such portfolio purchase in the quarter, the Company’s Form 10-Q for [the] quarter cannot be timely filed.”  Form 10-Q is the form public companies file with the SEC to announce quarterly results.  Asta said in the filing that it does not expect the delay to be more than 5 days past its due date.