Element Financial has secured funding to take over vehicle leasing and fleet management firm CustomFleet in Australia and New Zealand.
A syndicate of off-shore lenders, led by Bank of Montreal, has provided C$8 billion (AUD$8.45 billion) to for the acquisition from GE Capital.
The acquisition of the businesses in Australia and New Zealand, which operate as Custom Fleet, was the final stage of Element’s C$6.9 billion (AUD$7.2 billion) global acquisition of the GE Capital businesses.
The transaction includes the transfer of the employees, systems, offices, agreements, intellectual property and other assets required to operate the acquired fleet management businesses.
Element had previously acquired the Canadian operations of GE Capital’s fleet management business in June of 2013 and US operations in August this year.
Element executive vice president James Halliday, says his firm is looking to use its expertise help the Australian arm bring its whole-of-truck-ownership model to fruition.
“Trucks is in our blood. I mean, 80% of our portfolio in North America is America light trucks and up,” Halliday told APN, adding that 8% is in heavy trucks.
While not ignoring smaller vehicles, Element sees more scope for doing business in added services, from fleet analysis, vehicle speccing, testing and buying trucks to efficient running of vehicles and components, maintenance and repair, to, eventually, the sale of the used vehicle.
