Wolfgang Grenke, founder and chairman of the board for Grenke, has said he will retire at the end of February.

Wolfgang Grenke founded the business in 1978, in Baden-Baden, Federal Republic of Germany. The company was one of the first lessors to establish a branch in east Germany. In 2000, it saw its IPO in Frankfurt.

Grenke’s deputy, Antje Leminsky, has been unanimously designated as successor by the Grenke board.

The board said they had been already made aware of Grenke’s intentions to step down, but added that they “nevertheless … accepted this news with great regret”.

A statement read: “The supervisory board expressed its sincere appreciation to Wolfgang Grenke and paid tribute to the outstanding achievements this great entrepreneur has accomplished over the past forty years for his company and life’s work. The board wishes him all the best in the future.”

Leminsky’s appointment will become effective March 1. In addition to her existing responsibility for IT and personnel strategy, she will also oversee consolidated group strategy, risk control and the credit centre.

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Fellow board member Sebastian Hirsch, who has been responsible for credit control, M&A and treasury, will now be also in charge of the legal, tax and investor relations departments.

Grenke said that it had no current plan at the moment to appoint a new member to the board.