Company History

In 1956 Ray McLaughlin started The Hutt Valley Collection Agency, a small family business, in Wellington, New Zealand.  The first client was Wellington Newspapers.  Ray’s two sons, Neil and Keith, later took over the business and Neil established Bay Collection Agency in Rotorua, New Zealand.

These two businesses merged and were listed on the NZ Stock Exchange in 1986 under the parent company Baycorp Holdings Limited.  The company was, and still is, New Zealand’s largest receivables management company.  At around the same time, the company also:
 

• Purchased its first portfolio of overdue debts, being loans on vehicle LPG/CNG installations, in 1985
• Formed New Zealand’s first consumer credit bureau in 1986 
• Acquired Nationwide Credit Services, a large financial services provider, in 1987
   

The company and the Baycorp brand became synonymous with debt collection in New Zealand throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s. 

Baycorp also acquired is major competitor, Creditcorp Services, in 1993, and centralised its call centre operations to Auckland, with a significant investment in call centre technology.

Baycorp established a footprint in Australia in 1999 by establishing a joint venture debt recovery company, Alliance Group.  The joint venture partners were Baycorp, Data Advantage Ltd (the Australian credit bureau), and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.  This business was sponsored by CBA in the first stage of its outsourcing strategy and all CBA defaulted consumer debts were serviced through Alliance. 

Baycorp Holdings merged with Data Advantage in December 2001, to create Baycorp Advantage Limited, which was dual listed on both the Australian and New Zealand Stock Exchanges.  The merger of the two companies was based on the premise of key strategic and operational advantages that existed between the two groups, delivering core competencies from the merged business to produce the leading consumer bureau, data and analytical services and collection services business across the region.

Following the merger, Baycorp Advantage acquired the remaining one third interest in Alliance from CBA, and the exclusive nature of Alliance’s relationship with CBA came to an end.

In June 2006, private equity sponsored Trans Tasman Collections Holdings acquired Baycorp’s debt collection business in Australia and New Zealand, and separated this from the other parts of the Baycorp Advantage group.  As part of the purchase the iconic Baycorp brand was also acquired. which Trans Tasman Collections subsequently adopted.  The resulting company became the Baycorp that exists today, which maintains a strong market leadership position across the region.

In continuing a focus to improve and consolidate the industry, Baycorp acquired the business of Repcol (WA) Pty Ltd, a Western Australian collection business in 2009.  This further expanded the company’s footprint throughout Australasia.