U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
FORM 3
INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES
Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or
Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940
________________________________________________________________________________
1. Name and Address of Reporting Person*
PELTZ NELSON
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Last) (First) (Middle)
C/O TRIARC COMPANIES, INC.
280 PARK AVENUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Street)
NEW YORK NY 10017
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(City) (State) (Zip)
________________________________________________________________________________
2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year)
JANUARY 28, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________
3. IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an Entity (Voluntary)
________________________________________________________________________________
4. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP, INC. (ECPG)
________________________________________________________________________________
5. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer
(Check all applicable)
[X] Director [X] 10% Owner
[_] Officer (give title below) [_] Other (specify below)
________________________________________________________________________________
6. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)
________________________________________________________________________________
7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check applicable line)
[X] Form Filed by One Reporting Person
[_] Form Filed by More than One Reporting Person
================================================================================
Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned
================================================================================
3. Ownership Form:
2. Amount of Securities Direct (D) or
1. Title of Security Beneficially Owned Indirect (I) 4. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership
(Instr. 4) (Instr. 4) (Instr. 5) (Instr. 4)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMON STOCK 602,318 (1) (I)(6) (1)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMON STOCK 625,609 (2) (I)(6) (2)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
====================================================================================================================================
* If the Form is filed by more than one Reporting Person, see Instruction
5(b)(v).
Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially
owned directly or indirectly.
(Print of Type Responses)
(Over)
FORM 3 (continued)
Table II -- Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned
(e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)
================================================================================
5. Owner-
3. Title and Amount of Securities ship
Underlying Derivative Security Form of
2. Date Exercisable (Instr. 4) Derivative
and Expiration Date --------------------------------- 4. Conver- Security:
(Month/Day/Year) Amount sion or Direct 6. Nature of
---------------------- or Exercise (D) or Indirect
Date Expira- Number Price of Indirect Beneficial
1. Title of Derivative Exer- tion of Derivative (I) Ownership
Security (Instr. 4) cisable Date Title Shares Security (Instr. 5) (Instr. 5)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Stock Warrants Immed. 1/12/05 Common Stock 101,275(3) $0.01 (I)(6) (3)
(right to buy)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Series A Senior Immed. Common Stock 1,871,150(4) $0.50(5) (I)(6) (4)
Cumulative
Participating
Convertible Preferred
Stock
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Series A Senior Immed. Common Stock 1,745,660(2) $0.50(5) (I)(6) (2)
Cumulative
Participating
Convertible Preferred
Stock
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
====================================================================================================================================
Explanation of Responses:
(1) All such shares are held in the Nelson Peltz Children's Trust, an entity in
which Mr. Peltz is a trustee.
(2) All such shares are directly owned by Madison West Associates Corp.
("Madison West"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Triarc Companies, Inc.
("Triarc"). Mr. Peltz is an officer, director, and significant stockholder
of Triarc.
(3) All such warrants are held by Triarc.
(4) All such shares of Series A Senior Cumulative Participating Convertible
Preferred Stock are held by the Peltz Family Limited Partnership of which
Mr.Peltz is a general partner.
(5) Series A Senior Cumulative Participating Convertible Preferred Stock is
convertible at the option of the holder at any time into shares of Encore's
Common Stock at a conversion price of $0.50 per share of Common Stock.
(6) The reporting person disclaims beneficial ownership of these securities,
and this report shall not be deemed an admission that the reporting person
is the beneficial owner of such securities for purposes of Section 16 or
any other purpose.
/s/ Nelson Peltz, by Robin R. Pruitt, February 7, 2003
attorney in fact
--------------------------------------------- -----------------------
**Signature of Reporting Person Date
** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal
Violations.
See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).
Note: File three copies of this form, one of which must be manually signed.
If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.
(Print of Type Responses)
Page 2