| CG Capital Ltd signed a strategic
alliance with London Asset Finance Ltd, a UK transport asset
finance arranger specialising in the sub £1 million deal
sector. |
| Formed in February 2004 by two former
employees of Transamerica Finance Corporation, CG Capital has
so far funded £55 million of box and tank containers as
well as port crane acquisitions for a number of European shipping
lines, tank and port operators.
|
| Rob Hawking, CG Capital's marketing
director and Jonathan Royals, company director, both worked
in Transamerica's structured finance division prior to it being
bought by GE Commercial Finance for $5.4 billion (£3 billion)
in August 2003. |
| The new division, CG Asset Finance,
will specialise in UK transactions valued between £40,000
and £500,000 in containers, tank containers, road tankers,
trailers and trucks. Separately, CG Capital will concentrate
on all cross-border deals valued between £140,000 and
£55 million in Europe, North America and Asia. |
| "This is an important development
for us… it is a further step in fulfilling our aim to be
able to cover the full spectrum of customers' financing needs,"
Rob Hawking said of the deal. |
| Mark Stephens, chief executive of
London Asset Finance, added: "The aim is for CG Asset Finance
to provide a full complement of products for clients where we
will be able to satisfy all the finance needs no matter what
the request." |
| According to the CG's Hawking, there
remains a high level of interest in his company's products and
services, including long-term off balance sheet operating leases
as well as all types of finance lease from three year terms
upwards, "which are designed to take the hassle out of
arranging container finance for banks and box buyers alike." |
| First Tank Finance, a separate division
of CG Capital, has already made steps in the leasing market
following a strategic alliance with EXSIF Worldwide, the market
leading tank container lessor, to offer a vendor finance programme
to EXSIF customers committed to tank ownership. This arrangement
has allowed EXSIF to broaden its services to customers, whilst
providing a further outlet for CG Capital's long term structured
finance offerings. |
| One year in and CG Capital's niche-based
service has leased deals for port cranes, tank containers and
trucks with further business opportunities on the horizon. "We
are entering the ports market, focusing on the financing of
cranes for a number of logistics firms," said Hawking.
He said CG was in the process of recruiting an expert in port
finance to assist the company going forward. |
| If the market for renting or purchasing
ships is in a state of flux, then leasing service providers
can usually rely on container financing to boost their tight
margins. Rob Hawking explains: "Shipping lines can run
without ships but not without containers - there will always
be a need for containers for the likes of Maersk and P&O
Nedloyd." P&O Nedloyd has recently purchased two slots
on services run by French shipping line CMA CGM to ship cargo
between Asia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. |
| Hawking added that CG Capital was
actively looking for other alliances, particularly small ticket,
to help it compete with big players such as GE Commercial Finance.
"We can match or better our rivals on price and offer added
value services, we have a small team which can react to client
demand quicker than some of the big bank and non-bank finance
houses," he said. |
|
| View
other News items |
