In a deal between two of its clients, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP represented Citigroup Inc. on its sale of $3.2 billion in automobile loan receivables to Santander Consumer USA Inc., a unit of Banco Santander SA. The Spanish bank will also service $7.2 billion in loans that Citi will retain, it announced on June 25.

Davis Polk's George "Gar" Bason Jr. is leading his firm's team, which includes corporate partners Louis Goldberg, James Florack, Michael Davis and tax specialist Neil Barr. The law firm has represented Citi on numerous major transactions over the past two years.

Citi senior executives Lewis Kaden and Edward "Ned" Kelly are former Davis Polk partners. James Von Moltke, head of corporate M&A at Citi, is overseeing the bank's divestiture program.

Davis Polk has also done significant work for Santander over the years and most recently advised the bank in its $2.5 billion purchase of Bank of America Corp.'s 25% stake in Mexico's Grupo Financiero Santander SAB de CV in June. The law firm also advised Santander in 2008, when it paid $1.9 billion in stock for the 76% of Sovereign Bancorp Inc. that it didn't already own.

With Davis conflicted, Santander turned to a Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP team led by Joel Herold that included Richard Hall, Michael Schler on tax and Jennifer Conway on executive compensation and benefits. Hall advised Santander when it teamed with Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc and Fortis SA/NV to take over ABN Amro Holding NV three years ago. The deal was a disaster for RBS and Fortis but has turned out much better for Santander, which picked up ABN's South American and Italian assets.