THE LEASING INDUSTRY BRIEFING
The latest news, views and numbers you need to know this month
News in Numbers
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The number of years Irish aviation leasing executive Richard O’Halloran spent in China under an exit ban that prevented him from returning home. Following months of diplomatic negotiations, O’Halloran was finally allowed to leave and was back in Dublin on 29 January.
136%
Is the growth rate of loan originations reported by United Trust Bank’s leasing division for 2021, the performance helped to push UTB’s asset finance loan book beyond £200m for the first time in UTB’s history, the lessor said.
35%
Is the growth rate for new business plant and machinery finance in November, compared with the same month in 2020, according to figures from the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA).
£7.5 million
Is the estimated value of the items of outside broadcasting (OB) equipment to be sold via auction from 22-24 February as part of a liquidation sale. The equipment comes from UK OB company Arena Television, which went into administration in November 2021.
€400m
Is the value of NatWest’s Lombard’s asset finance business sold to Permanent TSB as part of a wider agreement that includes Ulster Bank’s loan book and branches valued at €7.6bn (£6.48bn).
People Moves
Ex-Simply manager to succeed Roberts at Time Finance
Specialist asset-based lender Time Finance has appointed Steve Nichols, a former regional sales manager for Simply, as director of asset finance. Nichols succeeds Carol Roberts as part of a planned progression and the two will work alongside each other in the coming months to support Steve’s transition into the role.
Source: Time Finance
Close Brothers Asset Finance boosts transport team
Close Brothers Asset Finance has appointed three area sales managers to its transport team. Savio Zuzarte (covering Milton Keynes, Bedford and Northampton) he has a strong background in health & safety and employment law; Ashley Haithwaite (Kent, including Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Ashford, Dover and Folkstone); and Gavin Martin (South West of England).
Source: Close Brothers
Pulse Cashflow appoints Wolfendale to grow Midlands presence
Specialist invoice financier, Pulse Cashflow Finance has appointed Terry Wolfendale as senior regional director. He will be responsible for supporting the growth plans of businesses across the Midlands region. Wolfendale has experience in bank-owned and independent invoice finance businesses from Lloyds Bank, RBS and Bibby Financial Services.
Source: Pulse Cashflow Finance
Reed Smith grows transport team with asset finance lawyer
Global law firm Reed Smith has added asset finance lawyer Andrew Harper to its transportation industry group. Harper, a senior associate, joins from White & Case where he specialised in aircraft, ship and rail finance, but originally trained and qualified as an associate at Reed Smith’s London office in 2010.
Source: Reed Smith
FLA appoints Simply CEO to board
The Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) has ushered in the New Year with the appointment of Mike Randall as a board director. Currently CEO of Simply Asset Finance and Chair of the Leasing Foundation, Randall has over 35 years’ experience in the asset finance sector, having held many senior positions. Before Simply, Randall had an 11-year career with Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing, having held posts as CEO and MD.
Randall founded Simply in 2017, when he was “motivated to revolutionise how SMEs could access much-needed funds to purchase equipment, free up working capital and invest in growth and provide them with a better, faster, simpler, more efficient service,” he says in his LinkedIn post.
Mike “splits his time between constructing funding deals for ambitious companies, running a successful lending business and actively helping support the business finance industry by helping other funders through their own transformation journeys,” he says in the posting.
British Ports Association chief executive Richard Ballantyne, following UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement that the Freeports selection process will see the first sites in England set up by the end of 2021:
“This is a welcome development and by being more inclusive in terms of the number of freeports there might be, the government can now explore how to better deliver on its levelling up agenda without picking regions over each other. Coastal communities are often in areas of high deprivation and have also experienced challenges resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown so this potentially transformative policy will be welcomed across a range of suitable locations.”