Joe Gambler . . . PNC as its situation could mean it is a target...

Joe Gambler

. . . PNC as its situation could mean it is a target

To me, acquiring PNC would be a win-win. The CEO of PNC would have to see it as a win, and CCP should be gracious enough to give a deal a win-win appearance. I am not suggesting it has a good probability of happening, but it is something that could happen.

I have not seen those reports of staff poaching. Where did you see this?

I have been unable to find those words that described how CCP lost collections staff in the USA to competitors, and how that problem was ameliorated. It was a brief passing and boastful remark, and automated interview applications and automated training may have been mentioned, or alluded to.

Perhaps, by throwing a lifeline to unemployed people of a specific profile who were inexperienced, but with the right aptitude, CCP garnered a higher level of loyalty from new employees that it trained, and by securing senior employees via internal promotion, it keeps more of the people it recruits than is usual at that remuneration level. Employees tend to be sticky for a number of months after joining, so a small promotion within 12 months lessens the loss of good quality people. See https://www.creditcorpgroup.com.au/careers/

CCP's employment advertisements emphasised that there was no week-end work, and this may have appealed to a demographic (e.g., married women). In the USA, the Xmas-Newyear break falls just after mid-winter, and that is a slack collections time, so it suits both employees and CCP for folk to take leave then. I have seen commentary in employment portals where CCP people who had previously worked in catering thought that being able to take leave then was a godsend – something they had missed experiencing in their earlier careers. Exploiting a fruitful source of applicants from a sector like married women in catering may have helped.

. . . good point regarding last capital raising resulting in a purchase

Without mentioning a company acquisition, in both recent capital raisings the application of the funds was wide enough to allow for the acquisition of a business.

When CCP acquired NCML from TGA years ago, the news was packaged to look like it was a purchase of NCML's PDLs, but in fact the whole business was acquired, including the secure Adelaide collections facility that was set up specifically to meet Government security preconditions for collecting debt owed to Government agencies like ATO. CCP still has that facility as part of its growing collections-as-a-service business. However, the main acquisition-price factor for NCML was the carrying value of the PDLs. I know that TGA was very happy with that deal, because CCP paid a fraction more than carrying value. CCP is like that, management work on a fair price, not the lowest price it can screw out of a situation, and that is why PNC should talk to CCP.

In the most recent capital raising, the Presentation stated, “Greater capital headroom will maximise flexibility to respond to market conditions including one-off opportunities to acquire competitor books.”  The 2018 capital raising justification also had words that sufficed to cover the acquisition of Baycorp.

Postscript for FlamincoDancer

I am unsure if CLH has either the type of PDLs or the collections ethos ingrained in its collections teams that suit CCP. CLH may be more difficult to digest than PNC. I picked PNC as a proxy for the Australasian opportunity for CCP to acquire a competitor, but in truth CCP may select some outside opportunity here or in North America. I recently read that Tascol (see https://www.tascol.com.au/ ) claims to be Tasmania' largest debt collector, and there are many unlisted companies of that ilk in Australasia that may come up for sale. Alternatively, CCP could simply hurl funds into organic growth, including training staff to handle the load that buying more PDLs would occasion.
Don't attach too much credence to what I write, I am not an investment guru, I am a near-80-year-old codger with time to kill, and and interested in things financial.