ARM Holdings, Inc. Acquires Healthcare Collection Agency

ARM Holdings, Inc., a healthcare revenue cycle management services holding company, announced yesterday that it has acquired Accounts Recovery Bureau (ARB) and Associated Credit Systems, together known as The Landau Group. ARB is a healthcare-focused collection agency. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The Landau Group is a 125-employee firm located near Reading, PA. Within the healthcare services market, the company’s focuses on large multi-hospital healthcare systems, community hospitals and physician practice groups. There are currently plans for expansion in their native Reading market.

Commenting on the deal and expansion plans, ARM Holdings CEO Bruce Colburn stated in a press release, “For over 30 years, The Landau Group has been providing its customers with business processing outsourcing, collections and information technology services. The company and its management team have developed proprietary processes and systems that have produced strong growth and a solid customer base of primarily healthcare providers, in addition to a growing number of municipal customers. We plan to continue the company’s high growth through the expansion of sales and marketing efforts and by making additional opportunistic acquisitions.”

According to the release, CCP Equity Partners and SightLine Partners led the financing for the transaction, which also included Quilvest Private Equity. Ken Higgins, Managing Director of SightLine noted the current market conditions for accounts receivable management services — and other BPO services — in the healthcare sector relative to the companies involved: “We believe that ARM is extremely well positioned in the market as more healthcare providers look for outsourced solutions to assist with the increased complexity of medical billings and insurance coverage.”

This type of acquisition, a private equity-fueled deal, has become quite frequent in the accounts receivable management and BPO industries. According to Mark Russell, Director of Kaulkin Ginsberg Company?s Strategic Advisory Group, the leading M&A advisor to the ARM industry, “This transaction is very indicative of the extraordinary level of interest in acquiring niche receivables management companies. As we have stated previously, financial and strategic buyers alike are aggressively seeking entry or expansion in the ARM industry resulting in a very active M&A market.”