Close Asset Finance is on the hunt
for a new head following a decision by Mike Barley to step down
after 11 years in the position, Leasing Life has learned.
Barley said he had chosen to leave the company
“to pursue a portfolio career”.
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It is expected a replacement will be found
from outside the company, although Barley highlighted “the approach
to replacing me has not yet been finalised”.
Barley added he intended “continuing in [his
current] post for some time to come”.
The move takes place as Close Asset Finance,
an arm of Close Brothers, continues to ramp-up its operations and
expand its circa £1 billion (€1.1 billion) portfolio.
It recently launched Close Business Finance, a
broker-led operation headed by Richard Briscoe, following a
mid-ticket business, Close Leasing, in November 2007.
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By GlobalDataLast year, Barley oversaw the integration of
Close Asset Finance’s factoring and leasing arms, and also a 10
percent hike in his company’s lending to SMEs.
New business in 2008 at Close Asset Finance,
which has operations in Germany and southern Ireland as well as the
UK, totaled €575 million.
Small ticket business represents around a
quarter of its leasing and factoring business, run by Roger Stone
and David Thomson respectively, while most of the rest is made up
of mid-ticket deals
