Acquis, a specialist insurance provider for asset finance and equipment leasing companies, has announced its expansion into Luxembourg and Poland in a move that takes its geographic coverage to a total of 16 countries across the European Union, plus the UK and Norway.

James Rudolf, chief commercial officer at Acquis, said: “Acquis partners with some of the largest leasing and asset finance companies across Europe, managing insurance on over €6bn of financed equipment and tracking more than 740,000 finance contracts. 

"Our move into two new EU countries this year is part of our long-term ambitious growth plan to become a global provider of insurance management programmes to the leasing industry. Luxembourg and Poland offer an excellent strategic fit for our expansion. Many of our existing multinational clients also already have operations in these regions.”

The service provider is currently in discussions to enter markets outside of Europe, Acquis said in a statement. 

Grenke AG, a global provider of leasing for SMEs, has raised its profit forecast for 2021.

The board of directors now expects a consolidated group net profit after taxes of between €60m and €80m, compared to the previous forecast of €50m to €70m published with the publication of the 2020 Annual Report. According to preliminary figures, Consolidated Group net profit reached €32m in the first six months (1H 2020: €33.2m).

Based on the preliminary half-year figures for 2021, the need for risk provisioning decreased. Due to the high level of uncertainty resulting from the pandemic, the board of directors had previously projected a higher level of risk provisioning. 

The main reason for the change in the assessment is the continued stable payment behaviour of customers. The board of directors of Grenke AG expects this to continue in the second half of 2021. The target range for net profit in the current fiscal year was raised as a result.

“Even though a high level of pandemic-related uncertainty remains, we are starting to see a normalisation in our operating business," said Grenke chief financial officer, Dr Sebastian Hirsch.

NatWest plans to sell Ulster Bank's Lombard asset finance business (alongside part of its mortgage book, SME business operation and 25 branch locations) to Permanent TSB in a deal worth about €7.6bn (£6.5bn).

Permanent TSB said it had entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Ulster Bank owner NatWest.

In February, Ulster Bank announced a phased withdrawal from the Republic of Ireland over the coming years. NatWest said it would wind down its under-performing Irish arm, Ulster Bank, after a strategic review concluded it would not achieve sustainable returns. The UK bank announced its intention to sell €4bn (£3.47bn) worth of loans to Allied Irish Banks as part of its withdrawal.

It also said its business in Northern Ireland would be unaffected.

NatWest chief executive Alison Rose told reporters in February: "We have made the difficult decision to withdraw in an orderly way over a number of years. It is our preference to ensure our customers are supported as they transition during this period.

NatWest has 1.1 million customers in Ireland, along with 2,800 staff in 88 branches around the country. NatWest reported a £351m annual loss for 2020.

A $30bn bid by Irish aircraft leasing company AerCap for General Electric’s aircraft leasing business was approved by EU antitrust regulators. 

The EU said the tie-up with General Electric Capital Aviation Services (Gecas) raised no concerns, saying the deal is “unlikely to give rise to serious competition concerns in the markets for aircraft and aircraft engine leasing.”

DLL, a Dutch-based provider of asset finance active in over 30 countries, said it plans to grow its activities in the global intralogistics market. 

This includes providing products and services tailored for warehouse automation projects, such as picking systems, automated storage solutions, conveyor systems, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), automated sorting solutions, robot palletising systems, baggage transport and sorting solutions, DLL said. 

Leaseurope has announced that Lectura, a German-based provider of machinery intelligence, has joined the organisation as its latest associate member. 

Lectura’s database contains information and data on more than 147,700 heavy machinery models and provides an evaluation of used machines as well as market intelligence through online tools and digital services, Leaseurope said in a press release.