Major private debt collector Panthera Finance has appointed new directors and put parts of the company into administration as it seeks to sell off its scandal-plagued business.
Last month, Guardian Australia revealed Panthera, one of the country’s biggest private debt collection firms, had circumvented a blacklisting designed to stop it from operating in Victoria and continued to strike debt purchase deals within weeks of regulatory warnings.
The company has now announced two of its holding companies have been voluntarily placed into administration. Two new directors – the existing chief financial officer, Frank Terranova, and Ryan Shaw – have also been appointed.
The company denies the moves are linked in any way to public revelations about its circumvention of the Victorian blacklisting and a related investigation by Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV), which could result in significant fines.
The company has brought in PwC consultants to assist with the voluntary administration process. It says its day-to-day debt collection business will not be affected and that its subsidiaries, including Panthera Finance Pty Ltd, the company subject to the CAV investigation, are operating as usual.
“Panthera Finance Group continues to operate on a business-as-usual basis after the group’s holding companies entered voluntary administration on Wednesday,” a spokesperson for Panthera said.
“The group’s subsidiary companies are not in voluntary administration and will continue to conduct their normal activities under the leadership of Panthera’s existing chief financial officer, Frank Terranova, and Ryan Shaw, who have been appointed as directors.”
“The voluntary administrators, Andrew Scott, Adam Colley, Derrick Vickers and Stephen Longley of PwC Australia, have advised us that at this stage they do not foresee any changes to the group’s ordinary business activities and are undertaking a process to decide on the appropriate next steps for the Panthera business.”
The two companies put into administration were PF Group Holdings Pty Ltd (PFGH) and PF Management Holdings Pty Ltd (PFMH).
PwC said the move would not affect the subsidiaries and their ongoing debt collection work across the country.
Colley said: “We intend to urgently assess the options available to PFGH and PFMH as the parent entities of the Panthera Finance Group of companies and will work closely with stakeholders to ensure minimal disruption to the group’s operations.
“We will be undertaking a process to identify interested parties who may wish to purchase the business as a whole or to acquire distinct operating units or assets.”
One of its main subsidiaries, Panthera Finance Pty Ltd, was blacklisted from operating in Victoria in 2020 due to a federal court finding it had unlawfully harassed Australians for money they did not owe.
Despite the blacklisting, Panthera Finance Pty Ltd continued to buy up and collect debt.
A Guardian investigation last month revealed that Panthera Finance Pty Ltd had received direct warnings from CAV in 2022 to cease operating in the state or face criminal sanctions. Within weeks of the warning, the same company struck debt purchase agreements to buy up old debt from Origin and Optus, the Guardian revealed.
Origin said it was left oblivious to any restriction on Panthera’s debt collection activity prior to the sale.
The company argues that it did not breach any law because it was using another entity to collect debts in Victoria, the similarly named Panthera Finance (Vic) Pty Ltd.
That entity is owned by the same parent company, has the same principal place of business, staff numbers and directors, and uses a carbon copy website that appears to have been created as recently as last year. The entity only began using the name Panthera Finance (Vic) Pty Ltd in June 2022, about the same time as Panthera’s dealings with the regulator. It was called CDDS Pty Ltd for about 15 years before that.
CAV says it is investigating Panthera’s conduct but is yet to announce any enforcement action.
A Panthera spokesperson previously said Panthera Finance had voluntarily contacted the Victorian regulator in May 2022 to alert it to a potential problem with the licence it needs to engage in debt collection.
“As soon as Panthera Finance Pty Ltd became aware of a possible licensing requirement under the act, we voluntarily contacted the regulator on 17 May 2022,” the spokesperson said.
