All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
Bidding for Government’s £4bn Intercity deal on hold
Only two bidders remain in the competition to build between 500 and 2000 new high speed train carriages: Hitachi Europe and a consortium comprised of Canadian engineering group Bombadier, German conglomerate Siemens and train lessors Angel Trains and Babcock & Brown
BA&SF completes syndication deal
Barclays Asset & Sales Finance (BA&SF) last month completed a syndicated £280m receivables financing deal with Palmer and Harvey (Holdings) Plc at a time the banking arm is seeking to bolster its asset based lending (ABL) capability
Lazard to handle Italease property sale
Italian leasing and factoring company Banca Italease has chosen Lazard to find potential buyers for its 400m-euro real estate portfolio, reported the Italian daily, Il Sole 24 Ore.
Cisco Capital launches in CEE
Eastern European SMEs are set to gain extra technological capabilities, following the launch of Cisco Capitals financing programme, EasyLease, which allows SME customers to adopt network technology more efficiently through leases for Cisco products and solutions
Investec enters aircraft leasing business with $73m global fund
The Australian operation of specialist banking group, Investec has entered the aircraft leasing business with the launch of the Investec Global Aircraft Fund
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Czech arm of UniCredit Leasing expecting slowdown
Despite solid growth last year and rising market demand for the leasing of vehicles, UniCredits Czech asset finance arm predicts a slowdown in new business during 2008. New volume are expected to grow by 10 per cent, according to Jiri Matula, general manager of UniCredit Leasing (Czech Republic), against increases of just under double that last year. The company is gaining ground with a 11.5 per cent share of the transport market totalling CZK 13.8bn (0.5bn) worth of receivables, and last year moved from fifth to fourth position in real estate leasing after growing by a whopping 71.4 per cent
St Helen’s optimistic despite bad debt increases
However, the City London-based lessor still has a long way to go with its latest financial statement for year end 2007 revealing an increase in total losses, mainly from bad debt, of £312,391, up from £168,000 in 2006. Nonetheless its managing director, Norman Kenvyn, is optimistic about future prospects saying that the current economic uncertainties will undoubtedly present the company with greater new business opportunities as traditional lenders to SMEs start to tighten available facilities
Reaching out to new niches
Currently it finances some 20 per cent of non-wheeled assets and commercial vehicles (CVs) compared to 80 per cent private cars and company vehicles. Miles Roberts, SFs managing director, tells Leasing Life that the aim is to alter the ratio to 40:60 in around three years time
Barclay’s earnings flat at commercial banking arm
Profits at Barclays Plcs commercial banking unit stayed flat at £1.4bn in 2007 compared with the previous year as higher impairment charges and operating charges and lower gains on asset sales offset an increase in income.
Raiffeisen’s new head of regions appointed
The former director of Raiffeisen-Leasings Saint Petersburg-based branch, Andrey Donchenko, has been appointed head of the companys regional affiliates