Santander Consumer USA Agrees to Acquire Certain Auto Loan Assets from Citigroup

DALLAS June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Santander Consumer USA ("Santander"), an affiliate of Banco Santander, has reached an agreement with Citi to purchase $3.2 billion of CitiFinancial Auto's auto loan portfolio. In addition, Santander and Citi have 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 purchase supports Santander Consumer USA's strategy to explore partnerships and transactions that complement the company's existing business model and provide incremental benefits from a service and growth perspective. Santander continues to be committed to originating and servicing indirect and direct auto loans that meet Banco Santander's strict standards related to prudent underwriting and risk mitigation. Santander will purchase the $3.2 billion portion of the portfolio at a price equal to 99% of the value of the gross receivables.

This sale to Santander is consistent with Citi's strategy to reduce the assets and businesses within Citi Holdings, its portfolio of non-core operating businesses and assets, in an economically rational manner while working to generate long-term profitability and growth from Citicorp, which comprises its core franchise. Citi continues to make progress on its strategy and will continue to pursue opportunities to divest Citi Holdings assets in a manner that creates the most value for shareholders. Upon completion, this transaction will reduce GAAP assets in Citi Holdings by approximately $3.2 billion.

Other terms of the sale were not disclosed. The sale is not expected to have a material impact on Citi's net income.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2010, and is subject to regulatory approvals and usual closing conditions.

Citi's Institutional Clients Group advised Citi on this transaction.

About Santander:

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 company has a serviced auto loan portfolio of approximately $14.9 billion, retail installment contracts with 1.4 million customers and relationships with more than 12,000 dealer partners nationwide. The company began originating loans in 1997 and is headquartered in Dallas. Santander Consumer USA is an affiliate of Banco Santander, a leading international commercial and retail bank.

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is the Spain-based retail and commercial bank with a presence in 10 main markets in Europe, and the Americas. At the end of 2009, Santander was the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization and fourth in the world by profit, EUR 8.94 billion. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1,245 billion in managed funds at the end of 2009. Santander has 92 million customers, 13,682 branches as of first quarter 2010 – more than any other international bank – and 169,000 employees.

About Citi:

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.

Banco Santander S.A. and Santander Consumer USA Inc. advise that this news release may contain representations regarding forecasts and estimates. Said forecasts and estimates may include, among others, remarks on the development of future business and future returns. Although these forecasts and estimates represent our opinions regarding future business expectations, perhaps certain risks, uncertainties and other relevant factors may lead the earnings to be materially different from what is expected. Included among these factors are (1) the situation of the market, macroeconomic factors, regulatory and government guidelines, (2) variations in domestic and international stock exchanges, exchange rates and interest rates, (3) competitive pressure, (4) technology developments, (5) changes in the financial position and credit standing of our customers, debtors or counterparts. The risk factors and other fundamental factors that we have stated could have an adverse effect on our business and on the performance and earnings described and contained in our past reports, or in those that we shall present in the future, including those filed with regulatory and supervisory entities, including the Securities Exchange Commission of the United States of America.

SOURCE Santander Consumer USA