Pioneer Credit reviewing 'several proposals'

Some M&A, all too rare, beckon around the edges of Australian banking.

Debt collector Pioneer Credit has received "several confidential, non-binding, indicative proposals", the company reported to the ASX yesterday.

Earlier in the day Pioneer went into a trading halt in response to a story in the Australian Financial Review that Bain Capital Credit was among a number of parties interested in acquiring the company.

Pioneer said in its statement: "The most comprehensive of these is a non-binding, indicative proposal for the acquisition of all of the issued shares in the company, by way of a scheme of arrangement, at a material premium to the current share price."

It said the proposals were not sufficiently advanced to warrant further disclosure.

Pioneer has appointed Azure Capital as its corporate adviser.

At the half-year, Pioneer reported that it had A$244 million of purchased debt portfolios on its books. It made a net profit of $5.5 million for the half.