Irwin Mitchell deal expands debt collection business

ASCENT, a Manchester debt collection business owned by law firm Irwin Mitchell, is expanding with the acquisition of Oxfordshire-based PDP Management Services.

It says the deal, which is subject to approval by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA), will strengthen its position in financial services and utilities.

Banbury-based PDP has 30 staff working on debt collection and debt counselling.

Ascent chairman Mark Higgins said: “Ascent and PDP both offer high quality services to major financial institutions, reflected in both companies’ high rankings in major clients’ own ratings for service and quality.

“Bringing both companies together will enable us to combine that quality and offer improved value for money to current and future clients through our shared expertise and even stronger infrastructure going forward.

He added: “Ascent, and of course our clients, will also benefit from adding to our existing high quality team the experience of the PDP team, who will bring additional expertise and credibility to our offering in key sectors.”

Irwin Mitchell said the move reflects its desire to grow its business across a range of services following changes to the way law firms are regulated.

The Legal Services Act introduced the idea of alternative business structures where law firms can change their ownership arrangements away from share-holding partnerships to structures similar to non-law businesses such as banking, insurance and financial services, and can receive backing from external investors.

PDP will continue to trade under its own name but operate as a subsidiary of Ascent and as part of the Irwin Mitchell group.

John Pickering, group chief executive of Irwin Mitchell parent IMCO Holdings, said: “Our strategy has been to build a diverse legal practice which offers a wide range of high quality legal services across both the business and personal client sectors. This fits well with our strategic growth plans for both Ascent and Irwin Mitchell.”

PDP was founded in 1997 by Peter Wilson, David Thomas, Peter Gander. Ascent was launched three years ago. The value of the deal was not disclosed.