Palatine Private Equity’s portfolio company, MoneyPlus Group (MPG), has completed the acquisition of debt management company Debt Free Me for an undisclosed sum.
Debt Free Me, based in Blackburn, UK, provides a range of debt management solutions to consumers and employs 30 people.
The business will continue to trade under the Debt Free Me brand as part of MoneyPlus Group. The acquisition adds over 6,000 consumers to the MPG customer base.
This is the fifth acquisition completed by MPG since Palatine backed a management buyout in June 2011. MPG now employs more than 190 people and is due to move from its Altrincham base to new offices in Manchester city centre in the next few weeks.
MPG offers a range of services to improve consumers’ financial situations, including debt management plans and individual voluntary arrangements and has plans to extend its offering into other areas, such as insurance and legal services, under the MoneyPlus brand.
Chris Davis, chief executive of MPG, says: “We are delighted to have completed this latest acquisition. Debt Free Me has a high quality book of debt management plans and a very strong customer service ethos driving one of the lowest attrition rates I have seen in the sector. We will continue to work with Palatine to achieve our growth strategy and ultimately become one of the largest companies in our sector.”
Ed Fazakerley, partner at Palatine Private Equity, says: “Our strategy has always been to grow the business both organically and via acquisitions, so we are very excited about the latest deal with Debt Free Me. We are also looking at a number of further acquisitions to support this strategy in the future.”
