Cam Hitchcock, Chuck Tapp and Phil Hanks Acquire Assets of ASR Nationwide and Rebrand the Company Primeritus Financial Services, Inc.

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Mar 01, 2012, 03:45 ET

CLINTON, Miss., March 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cam Hitchcock, Chuck Tapp and Phil Hanks ("Management") have partnered with a New York based private equity firm to acquire the assets of ASR Nationwide and recapitalize the company for growth. Management has rebranded the company Primeritus Financial Services, Inc. ("Primeritus") and will look to leverage their 50+ years of collective industry experience and strong client relationships in the automotive finance industry to pursue an aggressive growth strategy.

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Cam Hitchcock is a Partner at Elysian Advisors and serves on the boards of two private equity-backed companies in the asset remarketing space. Cam, previously a senior executive officer at ADESA who most recently held the title of President and CEO of ADESA's Dealer Service Group, which includes Automotive Finance Corporation, and will act as Executive Chairman of Primeritus. Chuck Tapp was most recently Vice President at Openlane, Inc., which was acquired by ADESA Inc. in August 2011 and will serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Primeritus. Prior to Openlane, Chuck held a number of executive positions at leading automotive service providers and financial institutions, which included responsibilities over sales, marketing, operations and remarketing. Phil Hanks, a long-tenured executive at Manheim that most recently served as Vice President of Renovo Services, LLC upon Renovo's acquisition of Manheim's Remarketing Solutions division, will act as Chief Operating Officer of Primeritus.

Primeritus will leverage the company's professional repossession forwarding and remarketing services to provide a best-in-class service offering to automotive lending clients. Management intends to combine superior business analytics and a strong working relationship with the company's agent networks to elevate industry standards and yield superior outcomes for clients. As mentioned above, Management recognizes the critical importance and value of a strong, two-way working relationship with agent networks and will drive significant volume increases through key agent partnerships.

"Our collective vision is to provide our clients and partners with industry leading solutions," stated Mr. Tapp. "We recognize the increasing regulatory demands on lenders and the urgency for a professional and highly-accountable partner who will help lenders navigate through the recovery process." Hanks continued "By partnering with both industry leading agents/suppliers in a true partnership and staying on the leading edge of technology in this space, we expect dramatically improved service and efficiencies for our clients."

"I am very excited to be working with Chuck and Phil to execute and support a vigorous growth strategy at the company. In addition to growing the business by partnering with our strong client relationships, Primeritus will serve as a platform for further industry consolidation as we are actively looking for acquisition opportunities," said Cam Hitchcock.

"We will seek to attract and retain the most talented individuals in the industry," noted Hanks. " We also seek to partner with the best network of operators in the business and will not compete with them by owning our own recovery assets."

About Primeritus:

Primeritus Financial Services, Inc. is a national provider of repossession management and skip tracing services to the auto finance industry in the U.S. Primeritus serves as a value-added partner for clients that seek to outsource the non-core business functions of the collateral recovery process as well as supplement their existing recovery efforts.

www.primeritus.com

SOURCE Primeritus Financial Services, Inc.