LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. — Today, DealerTrack announced that the number of active finance sources connected to its platform has reached 375, an increase of 23 percent since the end of 2006.

The company also recently completed its acquisition of Arkona. "We are very pleased to arrive at this milestone," said Mark O'Neil, chairman and chief executive officer of DealerTrack.

"In less than eight weeks, we have added another 25 financing sources, a real testament to the power of the DealerTrack network," he continued. "Providing dealers with the largest financing network helps dealers to best meet their customers' needs and to sell more vehicles, while enhancing origination potential for the financing sources."

DealerTrack Concludes Arkona Purchase

In other recent news, DealerTrack announced it has completed its acquisition of Arkona.

Now that the offer has been successfully processed, DealerTrack executives said Arkona now has been merged into a wholly owned subsidiary.

"In the current difficult industry environment, many dealers are looking for ways to improve profitability," explained O'Neil.

"The addition of Arkona enables us to provide a truly seamless on-demand solution that promises major cost savings for our dealer customers. The monthly cost of Arkona's web-based DMS is often as little as 25 percent of the fees charged by other providers," O'Neil continued.

"In addition, the Arkona solution is open to integration with other vendors, consistent with the approach we have always taken at DealerTrack of supporting dealers' choice," he added.

Also commenting on the completion of the acquisition was Richard Holland, founder of Arkona.

"We are very pleased to join forces with DealerTrack, which will provide increased financial and administrative support and enable us to integrate their industry-leading sales and finance applications with the Arkona DMS to create the most powerful dealership solution in the marketplace," he noted.

"Our senior management team is excited about this opportunity and is staying on to pursue our long-term goal of becoming the preeminent DMS provider in automotive retailing," Holland continued.

DealerTrack first announced April 27 that it intended to purchase Arkona. Officials said at the outset that the purchase price of the transaction would be about $58.9 million.

The agreement was structured as a cash tender offer for 100 percent of Arkona's outstanding capital stock. The company noted that the offer represents a 3-percent premium over the closing stock market price of Arkona stock on April 26.

"With Arkona on board, DealerTrack now offers a full spectrum of dealership solutions. From desking and inventory management to compliance tools, eContracting and now DMS, DealerTrack has the products and expertise to help our dealer customers run their business more efficiently," O'Neil stated.

"We also believe Arkona can play a key role in building our business with independent dealers and expanding into the powersports, marine and specialty markets," O'Neil concluded.