All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
GM plans sale and leaseback of UK property
GM is looking to sell and lease back some of its real estate assets in the UK in an attempt to raise cash quickly. The Detroit-based manufacturer, which has been badly hit by the credit crunch and reported losses of around $2.5 billion in Q3, is understood to have asked real estate agent John Lang LaSalle to find buyers for some of its business. The company has not announced yet which assets it intends to sell and lease back, although people familiar with the situation believe that they could include its headquarters in Luton and other non-manufacturing property in England.
Spreading the load
Although the UK arm of Volkswagen Financial Services continues to see growth, its managing director, Graham Wheeler, is cautious about the future
CV leasing part of aid package in Spain
The body, which is the equivalent of the SMMT in the UK, said that a specific plan for commercial and industrial vehicles was necessary to prevent a collapse within the CV segment. ANFAC, the Spanish association of car and truck manufacturers, has asked the Spanish Government to include commercial vehicles in its new Plan VIVE, which aims to reverse the countrys steep decline in car sales by giving benefits to those who buy or lease vehicles
Sponsored case study: Sword Apak has big plans for the future
Now in a developing relationship with stock funding giant De Lage Landen, and also a provider of systems to Scania Finance, Lombard, SG Equipment Finance, Nordea SFS, Case New Holland, plus a host of Europes biggest stock funders in the motor sector, Sword Apak has made a name for itself as an experienced and highly specialised provider of SF.
Making the most of IT
Many people have predicted that the economic turmoil would hit the IT leasing sector hardest In reality, there are still opportunities for the leasing industry in this market, as Jason T Hesse explores
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Is brokerland broken?
The recent turmoil in the banking sector has caused a barrage of problems for them. It started with a hardening of the banks credit underwriting policy
Fraikin beats off competitors to win government agency deal
Fraikin has beaten off tough competition to be awarded a lucrative fleet management contract with the UKs Environment Agency. The scale of the two-year deal is said to be significant, with units which range from construction plants to off-road trailers, tractors and grass-cutting machines being financed Under the terms of the agreement, Fraikin, which has a fleet size of 50,000 units, will provide the Environment Agency with a comprehensive repair and maintenance service.
Grenkeleasing UK announces a new approach with focus on ‘good’ brokers
The UK arm of Grenkeleasing AG, the German lessor which specialises in IT financing for the SME sector, had been at the centre of rumours that it was facing difficulties and had been forced to withdraw from the broker market as a direct consequence of the credit crunch.
Crisis makes for good times in container leasing
2008 has been a very good year for the shipping container leasing industry, according to Textainer Group CEO John A At present, between 45 and 50 percent of all new shipping containers are supplied by leasing companies, in contrast to the low of 35 percent seen in 2006
Romanian bank to get ?100m for SME investments
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has given Banca Transilvania, a Romanian bank, 100 million for small and medium-sized enterprises in a move to help the SME sector in Eastern Europe. EBRD, which provides project financing for banks and industries and businesses in Central-Eastern Europe countries and Asia, in 2001 acquired 15 percent of Banca Transilvania, which counts more than 125,000 SMEs among its clients and is effectively known as the bank for the SME sector in Romania.