MADRID, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Santander Consumer Bank, a unit of Spain’s Santander, agreed on Monday to buy a consumer auto-loan portfolio worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.45 billion) from Ford Motor Company in the Nordic countries, a Santander spokesman said.
“Part of the transaction is a long-term agreement on retail and wholesale finance to Ford dealers under the Ford brand,” the spokesperson said, without disclosing the amount of the deal.
The transaction is expected to be closed in the first quarter of next year and is subject to regulatory approval, Santander said, confirming information first published by the newspaper Expansion.
As part of the deal, Santander would take on 125 employees from the Ford Motor Company in the Nordics.
Santander Consumer Bank operates in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway where it manages a loan portfolio of 17 billion euros and has 1,500 employees.
$1 = 0.8977 euros
Reporting By Jesús Aguado; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Edmund
Blair