COLUMBUS, Ohio — After pursuing Western Funding for some time, Katherine Cooper, Frederick Cooper and Phil Nick, of Harbor Structured Finance LLC, were recently able to strike a deal with Dwight Cope to purchase the company.

According to Katherine Cooper, who was previously with SeaWest, the Harbor Structured Finance team approached Western Funding about a year ago. But apparently the group of executives had their eye on the company for quite some time.

"We had identified Western Funding as a good company. We always admired and respected what the man accomplished (Frederick Cope, father to Dwight Cope, and founder of Western Funding)," she told SubPrime Auto Finance News this week.

"We had contemplated this," she added. "The image Western Funding established was strong. They started in 1962 and were innovators. We had always been allied with that. Then we found out Dwight Cope was ready to retire and ready to hand over the reins. It just worked. It clicked."

While it can be hard to strike these kinds of deals in the current capital markets environment, Katherine Cooper said Bank of America stepped up to the plate as a financial partner.

"We now have a significant growth plan for the company. We plan to retain the character and strength of Western Funding. But we're planning some very exciting initiatives. We plan to consolidate the company and take it in some new directions, but we are also looking to maintain the heart and soul of what this company does," she pointed out.

Quite simply, the Harbor Structured Finance team saw this as a "tremendous opportunity."

Katherine Cooper said, "We're very excited to bring the company forward in terms of technology with a focus on the dynamic heart and soul of dealer participation."

Under new leadership, she said dealers will see a lot more involvement from the company on a regional level.

"The management in the regional offices is very excited about re-approaching dealership relationships and the dealer participation program. They will be doing mentoring and alignment and talking about the dealer participation reserve program with dealers. Basically, dealers have the opportunity to participate in the success of the performing portfolio. That's the heart and soul of what Fred (Frederick Cope, Western Funding's founder) developed," Katherine Cooper explained.

Thanks to the reserve program, as the company succeeds, the participating dealers also succeed and see the profits as well.

She said the new management team also plans to redesign Western Funding's website, in addition to working on getting all the new information out to branch managers.

Dealers have a lot of new initiatives in store for them from Western Funding, Katherine Cooper stressed.

"Regional teams will be meeting a lot more one-on-one with dealers to talk about increasing profitability on portfolios and more," she highlighted.

As new programs are rolled out by Western Funding, stay tuned to SubPrime Auto Finance News to learn the latest.

For more information or to contact the company, visit www.westernfundinginc.com.