Lease Firm Partners with Investor

By Staff Writer October 24, 2024

Certified Automotive Lease Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Auto Lender’s Liquidation Center, and Ares Management Alternative Credit funds announced that CAL Automotive and Ares have entered a joint venture to purchase and invest up to $1.5 billion in prime new vehicle leases originated by CAL.

With over 40 years of experience in the consumer vehicle leasing market, Auto Lenders launched CAL Automotive in 2016 as a superior sourcing model with the ability to generate profit throughout a vehicle’s life. Through strategic make and model selections of low mileage lease programs targeting prime credit-worthy lessees, CAL Automotive expects to realize strong residual value performance for off-lease vehicles sold to Auto Lenders. CAL Automotive leverages more than four decades of proprietary data to offer competitively priced lease options on vehicles expected to maintain strong values at the end of three-year terms.

“We are pleased to enter into this joint venture with Ares, which will allow us to grow our business and further capitalize on the current market environment,” said Brad Wimmer, CEO of Auto Lenders. “This partnership will both expand Auto Lenders’ offering of well-maintained, low-mileage cars and give our customers access to high-quality vehicles at competitive prices.”

“The key to Auto Lenders’ success is our participation through the entire lifecycle of an automobile, starting with providing low-mileage leases to prime customers,” said Mike Wimmer, Founder and Chairman of Auto Lenders. “By retaining many of these vehicles as they come off lease and sourcing additional vehicles directly from consumers, Auto Lenders consistently generates some of the highest quality, low mileage-one owner inventory in the industry, without any reliance on acquiring vehicles through auctions.”

The joint venture will seek to capitalize on CAL Automotive’s position as an independent consumer auto lessor – with over 100,000+ consumer leases originated since inception in 2016 – and serve as a complementary strategy alongside the company’s current bank partnerships.

“We look forward to partnering with CAL to grow their origination of prime auto leases,” said Felix Zhang, Partner in the Ares Credit Group. “We believe this transaction is a great example of the scaled and tailored asset-based financing solutions Ares’ Alternative Credit strategy can bring to originators of high-quality assets.”

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Last modified on Sunday, 27 October 2024 21:35