Plaza Associates Merges with ARM Firm ACB American

NEW YORK — Plaza Associates, an employee owned (ESOP) 50 year old collection agency servicing major blue chip companies, announced today that it has acquired ACB American, Inc. ACB American is a 50 year old accounts receivable and outsourcing company based in Covington, Kentucky that specializes in the healthcare and credit card sectors.

Paul Brennan, President and CEO, commented: “The union between our companies supports our forward strategy of gaining market share in industries outside of our current service sphere. Their deep experience and reputation in the healthcare arena is an exciting enhancement to our current financial services platform. This dynamic integration will create great synergy between the platforms and all our clients.”

Brennan is also excited about, SCI, Service Concepts & Initiatives, and ACB’s first party outsourcing capability that ACB brings to the business. He added: “The outsourcing services opens up huge potential for us not only in healthcare but in other financial sectors as well, and makes Plaza a one-stop shop from pre-charge off to primary and late stage post charge off services.”

Tony Faeth, President and CEO of ACB American, will remain with the company in his same role. The companies will operate separately for the short-term and eventually integrate into one entity. Tony commented: “Our employees are thrilled to be part of Plaza and become shareholders in a company that fosters such a strong employee oriented culture. We are also excited by the opportunity to extend our first party services to Plaza’s current customers and in turn have the ability to provide dedicated and specialized late stage recovery solutions to our client base”.

With the additional collection capacity in Kentucky (at the ACB American center), Plaza Associates will significantly increase its competitive edge with increased cost efficiencies as it expands its current operations at the ACB American site.

With approximately 475 employees in the United States, Plaza Associates now has operations in New York, New Jersey and Kentucky, as well as strategic partnerships in the Philippines and India. With ACB American, it offers the full spectrum of accounts receivable management services from pre-charge off to late stage post charge off collections in the bank card, retail, automotive, telecom, commercial, installment loans, mortgages, student loans, utility and healthcare sectors.

Leading the ACB American acquisition were Michael Flock and Don Hilbert of Flock Advisors, an M&A advisory firm based in Atlanta.

For additional information, please contact Paul Brennan at pbrennan@plazaassociates.com.