PE-backed Santander to buy Edmonton's Carfinco for $298 mln

Carfinco Financial Group Inc (TSX: CFN), an Edmonton-based specialist in auto financing, has agreed to be bought by Spain's Banco Santander SA for $298 million in cash. The acquisition, which has been recommended to shareholders by the company's board of directors, is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Santander said the deal would allow the retail and commercial bank to gain entry and growth opportunities in the Canadian market. Santander is a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firms General Atlantic and Warburg Pincus. In 2013, the two investors acquired a large stake in the company in a deal that valued it at US$2.7 billion.

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