Northwest FCS to join ProPartners Financial

ProPartners Financial announced that Northwest Farm Credit Services, an agricultural lending association based in Spokane, Wash., has agreed to join its ownership group. The move will result in the merger of the Northwest FCS’ Dealer Financial Services unit with ProPartners. The combined units will continue to do business under the ProPartners Financial brand.

Northwest FCS will join nine other Farm Credit associations who currently own ProPartners to create a one-stop Farm Credit System solution for crop input vendors who offer financing to their customers. The consolidation under the ProPartners Financial brand creates an ownership group with more than $34 billion in combined assets. In 2011, ProPartners and Northwest FCS had nearly $2 billion in loan commitments to dealers across the nation.

“We are pleased to welcome Northwest FCS to ProPartners,” said ProPartners President Chris Mueller. “Both ProPartners and Northwest FCS are widely recognized among agricultural retailers as innovative providers of custom end-user financing solutions for agribusinesses. Combining our systems and experiences allows us to offer the best in industry programs that can be customized to meet a broader range of agribusiness’ financing needs for their customers.”

Post merger, Northwest FCS will own the largest share of ProPartners. Marnie Vandenberg, senior vice president-specialized lending, will serve as Northwest FCS’ representative on the ProPartners Board.

ProPartners Board Chairman Don Olson, executive vice president at Farm Credit Services of Illinois, said, “On behalf of the ProPartners owners, we welcome Marnie and Northwest FCS to the ProPartners family. This combination creates a large and stable customer financing source for the crop input industry. It builds on a legacy of Farm Credit innovation in serving the needs of growers and agribusinesses.”

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