First BanCorp, based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is selling a loan portfolio with an unpaid principal balance of $516.7 million and a net book value of $438.5 million to a joint venture company owned by PRLP Ventures LLC - an investing company created by Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Caribbean Property Group.

With the law of supply and demand at work - more buyers chasing fewer deals - debt buyers continue to see portfolio prices remain stubbornly high, regardless of the age of the debt.

Plaza Associates, an employee-owned 50-year old collection agency servicing major blue chip companies, announced Friday it has acquired ACB American Inc., a Covington, Ky. company that specializes in the health care and credit card sectors.

DBA International, the association representing the nation's debt buyers, has issued the following response to Consumers Union and East Bay Community Law Center's report entitled "Past Due: Why Debt Collection Practices and the Debt Buying Industry Need Reform Now."

Capital Management Services Inc., a Buffalo, N.Y. collection agency with more than $68 million in annual revenues, plans to be the sole tenant of a proposed 56,000-square-foot building.

Aggregate accounts receivable management transaction value last year reached $1.1 billion, up 159% from 2009, according to one strategic advisory firm. With definitive signs of slow but sure improvement in the economy and M&A activity in general, a similar level of activity is expected in the next two years.

Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA) Inc., a Norfolk, Va.-based publicly owned debt buyer, announced Tuesday that its government subsidiaries - PRA Government Services LLC and MuniServices LLC - will merge and operate under the name PRA Government Services.

The New York City Fire Department, hoping to recover some of the $50 million lost on ambulance fees annually, will enlist the help of a collection agency, the department revealed Thursday.