Stellantis and Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance (CACF) have announced a joint venture to acquire ALD’s activities in Ireland, Norway and Portugal, as well as LeasePlan’s activities in the Czech Republic, Finland and Luxembourg.
These disposals would take place according to the commitments made by ALD to the European Commission in connection with the proposed acquisition of LeasePlan by ALD.
Ian Tilbrook, formerly of Volkswagen Financial Services, sees the move as beneficial for all parties, including shareholders, existing customers and employees.
“The acquisition can be seen as an acceleration of Stellantis and Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance’s international growth ambitions in operational leasing and mobility. The positive transaction provides an immediate acceleration for expansion, both geographically and in fleet size.”
Each holding a 50% interest, Stellantis and Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance want to create a multi-brand operational leasing company, resulting from the combination of the Leasys and Free2move Lease businesses, in order to become a European leader, with a fleet target of around 1 million vehicles in 2026.
“The acquisition of the entities in Portugal and Luxembourg is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the NewCo right from the start and an extra lever to increase its fleet to one million vehicles by 2026 as part of our aggressive Dare Forward 2030 strategy,” said Philippe de Rovira, Stellantis Chief Affiliates Officer. “Together, Leasys and Free2move Lease currently represent a fleet of approximately 828,000 vehicles.”
“The move allows Stellantis to consolidate all their independent leasing companies under one pan-European brand and position themselves as a large multi-mark European captive able to compete with other global OEMs in the growth of new mobility,” said Tilbrook. “It will be interesting to see if the Free2Move brand will be rolled out or if a possible new brand formed. Their challenge will be balancing the investment needed for the delivery of new mobility services whilst striving for the cost benefits of their new scale.”
Tilbrook further commented that, “It is also a very good move for ALD and LeasePlan to divest their activities under one block transaction giving a speedy and efficient process to meet their merger obligations of the European Commission.”
