Intrum Justitia Acquires Canadian Collection Agency

A small collection agency based in New Brunswick, Canada said Monday that it has been acquired by a subsidiary of European accounts receivable management giant Intrum Justitia. It will be Intrum’s first office in North America.

Saint John-based Eastern Collection Services Ltd. told local paper the New Brunswick Business Journal that it had been bought out by Intrum Justitia Iceland. According to Eastern’s founders, the company will continue to operate under its own name, but will have access to Intrum’s network of international collection operations.

Eastern is a family-owned collection agency opened in 1983. The company currently employs 15 people and serves clients in a broad range of industries, including law, energy, construction and accounting.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Eastern’s leaders expect to triple their current payrolls over the next two years and open a new office in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Intrum had been targeting Eastern Canada for acquisition for several years, according to the Journal. Now, Eastern’s owners are speculating that the Sweden-based Intrum may use their company as a platform to expand their Canadian operations, although Intrum officials were a little more cautious.

“We have not discussed that yet; it’s something we’ll have to discuss later on,” Hans Lindqvist, senior advisor at Intrum, told the paper. “This is a good start in a completely new area and from that we will see our next step.” Intrum currently does not have an office in North America but does count a presence in 24 European markets.