ALAMO, Calif. — A California-based regional finance company with a portfolio of 1,058 seasoned prime auto loans valued at almost $26.9 million is hoping to sell its portfolio via Global Debt Network Automotive, the company announced.

Although the seller has asked that its name be withheld, Michael Sheridan, founder and president of GDNAuto, said, "The portfolio has a nice asset mixture with high consumer FICOs (all 730 plus) and no delinquencies.

"Buyers can contact the seller directly on our platform to request more information about a portfolio prior to making a bidding decision," he continued.

Basically, when companies look to sell portfolios generally it is to free up more capital.

According to Sheridan, "Now more than ever dealers, banks and finance companies are recognizing the value of having a whole loan sale platform as a tool for them in how they operate their business. 

"The current market opportunity of filling the lender funding gap or providing a large inventory variety has pushed many dealers and lenders to find ways of freeing up capital so that they can capitalize on opportunity as the consumer demands (funding and inventory selection) at the dealership level have increased," he explained.

This won't be the first time the company has offered a portfolio for sale. GDNAuto has listed 20 portfolios for sale, from $39,000 to this $26 million portfolio.

"Despite this being a difficult time for portfolio sellers and buyers, GDN is pleased to see that each portfolio is attracting more and more interest as buyers look to put money back to work," Sheridan told SubPrime Auto Finance News.

"The biggest issue has been seller pricing expectations compared to buyers' purchase/bidding prices. Part of our value at GDN is having a centralized marketplace where pricing for these loan portfolios is more well-known to both buyers and sellers and we are certainly seeing the value of our system to both parties," he noted.

He went on to explain, "One of the values we provide is a centralized place for buyers and sellers to communicate making it easier for them to get the information they need to move the transaction forward. Membership to our Web site is free and applying takes just two minutes. We have expanded our verification group to handle the growing number of both buyer and seller applications," he added.

Sheridan said the company has more than 50 buyers registered on its site ready to look at portfolios on a national basis. Additionally the platform has 45 sellers, including dealers, banks and finance companies. 

"We are making some changes to our system so we can better handle charge-off and BK-13 portfolios while also expanding our product to RV, marine and motorcycle portfolios," he pointed out.

"At a time when liquidity is a challenge faced by our nation's financial markets, GDNAuto provides an easy-to-use platform that helps our clients set a price for asset-backed debt and thus restore liquidity to their operations and to the automobile finance marketplace," he continued.

For more information, visit www.gdnauto.com.