United Recovery Systems Acquires ARM Firms Plaza Associates and ACB

United Recovery Systems, L.P. (URS) announced Wednesday that it has acquired the businesses of AID Associates, Inc. d/b/a Plaza Associates  and A.C.B. American, Inc.

Plaza and ACB are providers of collection services with offices in New York and Kentucky, as well as a call center in India. Plaza and ACB serve clients in the late-stage credit card and auto loan industries and also serve the healthcare industry with both first and third party collection services.

This is the first add-on acquisition for URS, which private equity firm Audax Group acquired in December 2008. Headquartered in Houston, URS is a provider of third party contingency debt collection services, specializing in the collection of early-stage pre-charge off and post-charge off receivables for the credit card, retail, and auto loan industries. URS formed a new subsidiary, Plaza Recovery, Inc., to acquire the businesses.

Douglas Schultz, CEO of URS, said, “This transaction is an exciting development for our company. We have diversified URS’ end markets and customer base, while providing Plaza and ACB with the analytics and processes to make their operations more streamlined and efficient.”

Paul Brennan, current CEO of Plaza Associates, will remain with the new company and continue to oversee collections in the New York office. Tony Faeth, currently President of ACB, will also remain with the company and continue to oversee collections in the Kentucky office.

Brennan commented, “The sale to URS makes strategic sense for both companies, given the complementary customer base and focus on different stages in the collection cycle.”

Young Lee, Managing Director of Audax Group, said, “URS is a leading contingency debt collection provider with a stable customer base in a fragmented industry. The Plaza/ACB acquisition expands URS’ operations internationally and into the healthcare and late-stage credit card end markets. We will continue to look for strategic add-on acquisitions that complement URS’ industry-leading service offering.”

M&A advisory firm Flock Advisors advised Plaza Associate in the deal.