CLINTON, Miss. — Wholesale market executives Cam Hitchcock, Chuck Tapp and Phil Hanks partnered with a New York-based private equity firm this week to acquire the assets of a forwarding and remarketing company.

The trio is rebranding ASR Nationwide into Primeritus Financial Services and recapitalizing the company for growth. Hitchcock, Tapp and Hanks are looking to leverage their 50-plus years of collective industry experience and strong client relationships in the auto finance industry to pursue an aggressive growth strategy.

Hitchcock, a partner at Elysian Advisors and board member of two private equity-backed companies in the asset remarketing space, will act as executive chairman of Primeritus. Previously, Hitchcock was president and chief executive officer of ADESA's Dealer Service Group, which includes Automotive Finance Corp.

Tapp, who was most recently vice president at OPENLANE, will serve as Primeritus' CEO. Prior to his position at OPENLANE, which was acquired last year by ADESA parent KAR Auction Services, he held a number of executive positions at leading automotive service providers and financial institutions, which included responsibilities over sales, marketing, operations and remarketing.  

Furthermore, Hanks, a long-tenured executive at Manheim who most recently served as vice president of Renovo Services upon Renovo's acquisition of Manheim's Remarketing Solutions division, will act as chief operating officer of Primeritus. 

The executives explained Primeritus will leverage the company's professional repossession forwarding and remarketing services to provide a "best-in-class" service offering to auto lending clients.

The management team intends to combine superior business analytics and a strong working relationship with the company's agent networks to elevate industry standards and yield superior outcomes for clients. 

Hitchcock, Tapp and Hanks contend they recognize the critical importance and value of a strong, two-way working relationship with agent networks and will drive significant volume increases through key agent partnerships.

"Our collective vision is to provide our clients and partners with industry leading solutions," Tapp explained.

"We recognize the increasing regulatory demands on lenders and the urgency for a professional and highly accountable partner who will help lenders navigate through the recovery process," he continued.

Hanks added, "By partnering with both industry leading agents/suppliers in a true partnership and staying on the leading edge of technology in this space, we expect dramatically improved service and efficiencies for our clients."

When discussing the opportunity, Hitchcock declared, "I am very excited to be working with Chuck and Phil to execute and support a vigorous growth strategy at the company.

"In addition to growing the business by partnering with our strong client relationships, Primeritus will serve as a platform for further industry consolidation as we are actively looking for acquisition opportunities," Hitchcock went on to say.

Hanks gave a glimpse as to Primeritus near-term future.

"We will seek to attract and retain the most talented individuals in the industry," Hanks insisted. "We also seek to partner with the best network of operators in the business and will not compete with them by owning our own recovery assets."