A leading debt collection agency is to pay backers an estimated £100m windfall as part of a restructuring

One of Britain's biggest consumer debt collectors is to pay its backers a £100m windfall in a move which could reignite a debate about the lucrative nature of the industry. Sky News understands that Lowell Group, which is owned by the private equity firm TDR Capital, is working on a financial restructuring that will amend the terms of its borrowings. Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, the Wall Street investment banks, have been appointed to work on the so-called dividend recapitalisation. The deal will allow Lowell to borrow on more favourable terms, and to pay its shareholders a dividend that is expected to be somewhere in the region of £100m, according to insiders. Lowell, which was acquired by TDR in September 2011, claims to be "committed to taking a fair, sensitive and ethical approach to debt recovery, and is in full compliance with UK Government guidelines and industry trade and regulatory bodies".......Read more here