ATLANTA — Navigator Holdings recently revealed the sale of nearly $40 million in subprime, asset-backed loans.

Company president Bobby Lazenby explained the sale of the subprime automobile loan portfolio comes as an increasing number of investors look to build balance sheets with high yielding assets.

Lazenby said: “I’m happy to say the subprime market has rebounded nicely over the past year with fresh or renewed capital sources becoming available to lenders. 

“We are seeing several industry players with a strong desire to take advantage of what they believe is a void in the marketplace. This has created a fairly competitive marketplace and has led to some of the strongest pricing in years for subprime, asset-backed receivables,” he continued.

Company officials also noted that the sale comes after three turbulent years for the subprime industry, and those who have persisted are just now starting to feel the “benefits of expanded credit.”

Moving on to discuss company history, Navigator Holdings is the result of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy restructuring of Manchester Inc. Officials explained Manchester — then a publicly traded company — failed after less than a year of operations, but not before acquiring four companies and more than $100 million in assets. 

Then, in June 2008, Manchester emerged from bankruptcy, under the direction of  Lazenby, as restructured Navigator Holdings after the secured lenders agreed to a stock for debt swap that left many of the unsecured creditors without recourse, the company noted.

Navigator Holdings owns and operates Navigator Acceptance, which specializes in providing financing directly to  consumers with other than prime credit.