Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is advising Citigroup Inc. (Citi) in connection with the sale of $3.2 billion of CitiFinancial Autos auto loan portfolio to Santander Consumer USA Inc. (Santander), a subsidiary of Banco Santander. Santander and Citi have also entered into an agreement under which Santander will service a portfolio of approximately $7.2 billion of auto loans that will be retained by Citi. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals and usual closing conditions, is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2010.
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Santander Consumer USA Inc. is a leading company in the automotive finance sector, whose core business is indirect, direct and third-party originations and servicing of auto loans.
The Davis Polk corporate team includes partners George R. Bason Jr., Louis L. Goldberg, James A. Florack and Michael Davis and associates Joanna A. McGinley, Meyer C. Dworkin, Stevan R.B. Nicholas and Jason Mehar (not yet admitted). The tax team includes partner Neil Barr and associates Kay Ng and Catherine P. Tennant. Counsel John T. Wright is providing benefits advice. Associate Vishnu Reddy, based in the Menlo Park office, is providing intellectual property advice. Except as noted above, all members of the Davis Polk team are based in the New York office.
D.C.