News: CLH Australia's Collection House appoints administrators after failing to raise funds

June 30 (Reuters) - Collection House Ltd (CLH) , Australia's biggest debt collector, said on Thursday it appointed FTI Consulting FCN.N as voluntary administrators, after it failed to raise additional capital funding and restructure its business.

The administrators will assess the receivable management provider's business, approach stakeholders for funding, and examine sale and recapitalisation process for the company simultaneously, it said.

The Brisbane-based debt-collector was impacted by the Australian government's decision to freeze debt collection during the lockdown, hurting its bottomline and forcing it to sell assets to repay borrowings. (https://bit.ly/3AfAuQ1)

The company had also invested A$8.5 million ($5.84 million), in Volt Bank (IPO-VOT) , Australia's first online-only bank, which earlier said it would shut down, returning deposits and selling its mortgage book after failing to raise sufficient funds to support the business.

Collection House said its shares would remain suspended from trading during the administration period. Shares are down 47.7% this year as of their last closing on June 28.

($1 = 1.4552 Australian dollars)