Spain's Santander is considering buying out the 28 percent of its U.S. auto finance business that is currently listed on the stock market, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The stake in Dallas-based Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc was worth about $1.8 billion as of Monday.Santander, which owns 60 percent of the unit, views it as an undervalued asset that may perform better off the public markets, Bloomberg said.Santander declined to comment.Shares in Santander Consumer were up nearly 13 percent at $20.65 a share at around 1610 GMT. The unit was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in January in an offering priced at $24 per share.
Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. is a full-service, consumer finance company focused on vehicle finance and unsecured consumer lending products. Shares of SC traded higher by 16.94% or $3.1/share to $21.40. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $16.52 and as high as $26.50. On average, 2360300 shares of SC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 7751247.
Source
