THE founder of a Bolton debt restructuring company is poised to scoop around £2m when his firm floats on the Alternative investment Market later this month.

Ges Ratcliffe will put a £3million portion of his stake in Chorley New Road-based Debtmatters up for sale, and will retain 80 per cent of a business expected to be valued at around £15m.

The group, which sets up individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), plans to plough the cash raised into marketing and advertising, as well as increasing its investment in staff and technology.

Debtmatters, which employs 49 people, was set up last year and arranges legal agreements for repayment between creditors and debtors.

Mr Ratcliffe, chief executive of Debtmatters, said: "We have ambitious plans to grow our business rapidly and I am delighted to add that we are already processing significant numbers of IVAs on a month by month basis, with a record month achieved in April.

"Further opportunities exist in the marketplace, which is growing rapidly and we are confident that, with our funding in place, we can gain market share and deliver substantial shareholder value."

The companys target market is significant. In the UK last year consumer debt passed the £1 trillion level and is increasing at a rate of approximately £1million every four minutes.

In addition, UK credit cards and other unsecured loans account for approximately £185 billion.

IVAs are agreements between consumers and creditors under which people agree to repay a set percentage of their debts, generally over a five year period, in exchange for interest on them being frozen.

As a result of the record levels of debt, the market for IVAs has grown at around 40% a year.

Debtmatters currently has a 7 per cent share of the IVA market, and its turnover for the year to the end of March increased five-fold to £2.5 million.

The group makes its money by charging a fee to set up one of the agreements, usually around £1,750, followed by an ongoing monthly supervisory fee of around £42.