Debt buyer PRA Group announced Monday it will expand into the German debt purchase market, just more than a year after the global acquisitions of Aktiv Kapital and Pamplonas IVA servicing platform.
PRA, based in Norfolk, Va., hired Dr. Udo Kords to serve as the investment director for PRA Group's Insolvency Investment Services business in Germany. He will report to Andrew Berardi, managing director for Insolvency Investment Services in the United Kingdom. Kords and Berardi previously worked together at the investment banking firm Bear Stearns International, where they built a successful platform to purchase German consumer insolvencies in 2007, said Mike Petit, president, Insolvency Investment Services at PRA Group.
Kords is the former managing director of Max Deutschland GmbH (MAX), a subsidiary of SUBITO AG. His analytics team at PRA will include Dennis Flugel, who has worked with Kords for more than seven years. PRA also acquired some licenses for MAX's intellectual property.
Alexander Holzgreve, managing director acquisitions Europe for PRA Group, said, "Building a dedicated consumer insolvency purchasing business will enable us to provide an enhanced competitive offering to our existing and prospective client base in the German market.
Kords, who will be based in Hamburg, Germany, will work closely with Marcel Kochling, PRAs acquisitions director for Central Europe, and Matteo Gervasi, PRA's acquisitions director for Italy and Germany, to manage the companys growing client relationships in Germany.
"This transaction is another example of how PRA is leveraging the 2014 acquisitions of Aktiv Kapital and Pamplona's IVA servicing platform to further expand into new markets and enhance our competitive position, said Steve Fredrickson, chairman, president and chief executive officer at PRA.
PRA's $880 million acquisition of Oslo, Norway-based Aktiv Kapital, announced in February 2014, was one of the largest deals in accounts receivable management history. Acquisition terms required PRA to assume about $435 million of Aktiv Kapital's corporate debt, putting the total enterprise value for the deal at $1.3 billion.The two companies combined to become one of the world's largest acquirers of non-performing consumer debt from banks and other creditors, with more than $4.6 billion in estimated remaining collections from customers.
PRA's acquisition of Pamplona's platform also was announced in February 2014. That deal included the hiring of Berardi, who at the time was leading a management and analytical team for Pamplona.
