Dear readers, welcome to Basement Talk,
Leasing Life’s monthly diary page, filled with the latest gossip
and insight on the less visible aspects of the asset finance
industry.
The Middle Eastern connection
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Exactly where are British brokers
getting their business from these days? Barclays Asset & Sales
Finance, CIT, KBC Lease, Investec Asset Finance and others have
culled their broker arms, while BNP Paribas Lease Group is only
accepting business from just six of its originators. Others are
believed to have done the same of late. It has already been
reported by Basement Talk that one broker has been thinking of
appealing directly to Middle Eastern states to invest via sovereign
funds in leasing because of its reputation for being low risk. The
truth is that there are lots of independents still receiving deals
from brokers. Considering the debacle over Lifestyle TV etc, some of these, however, may think twice before accepting deals
from intermediaries in the future.
Meanwhile, a private equity company in one of
the south-eastern Arabian states has began investing in European
asset finance. Opportunities, indeed, for brokers down on their
luck.
That charming man
Philip White, the MD of
lessor-broker Syscap, is on a high after he made yet another flurry
of top hires last month, this time from embattled broker Genesis
Capital. Philip, always keen to keep his staff on side (very
necessary during a downturn), has implemented some interesting
methods of making sure no one jumps from his own stable ship.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
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By GlobalDataOne of them has been to force new recruit Phil
Ross, formerly of Investec Asset Finance, to use a wine glass –
whether it is for a soft or a hard drink – whenever he is in sight
of his boss.
The reason for this? Ross does not like beer,
and when White heard of this he immediately enforced the use of the
wine glass. Exactly why eludes Basement Talk.
Lost key
Key Equipment Finance’s loss of its
president and chief executive officer Paul Larkins must have been
quite a symbolic blow to the global leasing company. After all, it
was Larkins who spearheaded Key’s acquisition of Leasetec and the
lessor’s subsequent entry into Europe and the Far East. It was
Larkins who was also behind the acquisition of American Express
Business Finance which boosted the lessor’s portfolio by around
€1.7 billion as well as several other important acquisitions.
Larkins was also said to be a big supporter of the European leasing
business which, like its US counterpart, suffered a flurry of job
losses late last year.
Question now, however, is whether without
Larkins the European leasing business will remain a core part of
Key in the mind of its US’ masters.
Recessionary release of air
Now companies are utterly devoid of
any good news to report, they are instead issuing statements with
absolutely no interest to anyone whatsoever. First off, Porsche
last month told the world that tennis player Dinara Safina, which
the car manufacturer sponsors, has got a “good figure” and also
eats cake on her birthday. Invigorating stuff.
If that wasn’t enough to get your pulse
racing, ACF Car Finance Ltd last month informed the world that its
national sales manager, Steve Butler, had been with the company for
15 years. Mind you, considering the rate of redundancies in
financial services, this isn’t bad going.
