DALLAS-Dec. 7, 2006 – Banco Santander Central Hispano SA (STD) completed the previously announced acquisition of Drive® for $636 million in cash.
Drive’s business plan and executive management team will remain largely unchanged. Thomas Dundon, President and COO, who retains 10 percent ownership, adds the role of Chief Executive Officer. Drive will continue to originate across the entire sub-prime auto spectrum leveraging the successful One Complete Solution™ marketing program.
“Santander’s ownership and Drive’s credit risk expertise will help us to continue to improve our mix of business to include higher quality originations while maintaining our ability to sustain rapid growth,” Thomas Dundon, Drive’s CEO states. “We believe we are poised to become one of the leading companies in our industry.”
Santander, headquartered in Madrid, Spain, is one of the largest financial groups in the world with a market capitalization of EUR 86.9 billion. Santander has a global presence and specializes in retail banking, consumer finance, asset management and insurance, and has 129,000 employees and 66 million customers worldwide.
Drive® is one of the fastest-growing companies in the automobile finance sector. Drive (www.drivefinancial.com) has a $3 billion sub-prime auto portfolio originated from more than 10,000 dealer partners throughout North America. Drive is headquartered in Dallas.