CHARLOTTE, N.C. -

American Recovery Association executive director Les McCook has proven to be quite prophetic stemming from a comment he made during the Innovations in Recovery Summit hosted by ALS Resolvion in late September.

McCook said, “In the next 24 months, there will be significant changes in the industry.” Turns out, McCook’s assertion not only came to be, but it also involved the forwarding company hosting that event.

ALS Resolvion and Del Mar Recovery Solutions on Monday morning announced the completion of a definitive merger agreement.

According to a news release sent to SubPrime Auto Finance News just ahead of the opening of Used Car Week 2019 in Las Vegas, the combined company will operate under the name Resolvion and will create one of the largest repossession management companies in the industry. The combined company now includes:

—More than 200 clients, including more than 40 of the Top 50 auto finance companies in the country

—Approximately 1 million repossession assignments annually

—More than 250,000 recoveries completed annually

The combined entity will be led by Michael Levison and Joshua Elias. The other senior managers of Resolvion include:

—Scott Darling, chief operating officer

—Keith Yarnell, chief information officer

—Ren Zamora, chief financial officer

—Jose Mendiola, executive vice president of consumer division

—Rod Browning, executive vice president of strategic initiatives

—Doug Melson, executive vice president of commercial division

—Claudia Plascencia, senior vice president of client services

“Combining these two companies makes tremendous sense,” Levison said in the news release. “Both are leaders in the industry, share a similar operating philosophy, and bring strong teams to our client relationships.

By combining operations, we are able to invest more in performance improvement and we will be able to take our respective compliance capabilities to new levels while, at the same time, improving operating efficiency,” Levison continued.

Elias shared his perspective on Monday’s development, too.

“I am really looking forward to working with Mike Levison and the ALS Resolvion team to bring our combined client base superior results, uncompromising service and industry-leading compliance,” Elias said.

“Scale has become very important in this industry and the merger with ALS Resolvion allows us to offer lenders exciting new capabilities and meet the industry’s growing need for operating efficiencies,” Elias went on to say.

The company said it will continue to operate their existing offices in Charlotte, N.C., Carlsbad, Calif., Atlanta, Las Vegas and Shelton, Conn.