TD Bank to buy Chrysler Financial

TD Bank announced last week that it will purchase Chrysler Financial for $6.3 billion - a significant move for auto industry financing. According to Reuters, the move will make the Toronto-based TD Bank one of the largest lenders in the United States. The deal between TD Bank and Cerberus Capital Management - which purchased Chrysler Financial during the height of the auto industry crisis - has a Q2 2011 target date for completion. The acquisition is forecast to generate $100 million in adjusted earnings in 2012, the first year of full operations, according to RTT News. "From an auto industry perspective, this is a very good thing. If we are going to recover back to annual sales of 17 million (vehicles), it's going to depend on credit," Jim Ziegler, an Atlanta-based dealer consultant, told Reuters. Chrysler Financial's market share dropped precipitously between 2006 and 2010, going from 5.8 percent of the market to just 0.1 percent under Cerberus' management. TD Bank hopes to turn that around, increasing its current auto loan book, which holds $3 billion in the U.S., to one that will generate $1 billion per month by 2013.