In brief

LCI has agreed to acquire helicopter leasing company Nova Capital Aviation (Ireland) Limited, a division of the Nova Capital Group, for an undisclosed amount. Nova Capital describes itself as a specialist helicopter lessor “with an asset portfolio approaching $500m between owned and managed assets.” LCI said Nova Capital Aviation (Ireland) represents the twin-engine rotary and fixed-wing aircraft lease division of the Nova Capital Group, with single-engine operations remaining within the Group.

DLL, a global provider of asset-based finance, has appointed Carlo van Kemenade as chief executive and chairman of the executive board of DLL, subject to approval by the regulatory authorities. Van Kemenade will succeed William F. Stephenson, who announced his retirement from DLL earlier this year. Carlo van Kemenade has spent the past four years as CEO and chairman of the board for Obvion, one of the largest mortgage providers in the Netherlands and a wholly owned subsidiary of Rabobank.

UK-based independent lender White Oak has completed a securitisation deal with Barclays Bank, with funds earmarked for SMEs across the UK via asset finance solutions. White Oak will use the facility to enable SMEs and mid-sized corporates to invest in their business, the non-bank SME lender said in a statement. This comes as the UK Government implements several measures to encourage businesses to invest, including the Super Deduction which allows businesses to cut their tax bill by up to 25p for every £1 they invest.

Medialease, a provider of specialist asset finance for the live events, broadcast and post-production industries across the UK, has hired Nayle Mehmet and
Kiernan Walsh as business development managers. Mehmet has worked in the media and broadcast industry for over 25 years in business development. Walsh started his working life in the exhibition industry before becoming an audio-visual technician. Jo Howells joins the head office team as leasing administrator. The company recently posted its best consecutive three quarters in 20 years of business.

The European Commission has recognised the low risk posed by leasing as a business proposal in its recently published Banking Package 2021, which implements the Basel IV agreement across the EU, Leaseurope said in a statement. The EC’s review of EU banking rules (to CRR III and CRD V) include some of Leaseurope’s key proposals designed to help mitigate the impact of Basel IV on leasing companies and to adequately adjust the EU prudential framework to reflect the low-risk profile of leasing.

Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has bolstered its asset finance division with two experienced senior hires. Ian Corbett joins as head of credit and risk, leading HTB’s underwriting team, and Ian Meyer joins as manager of new business operations. Ian Corbett joins from BNP Paribas and was previously at Aldermore and ING Lease. Ian Meyer has worked for ING Lease UK, Shawbrook Bank and latterly as operations manager at Hitachi Capital.

Grenke AG, a Germany-based financier for small and medium-sized enterprises, reported a net profit of €20.1m (-24 per cent compared to Q3 2020: €26.5m) in the third quarter of 2021. Grenke posted €32.3m in the first half of 2021. Due to the Covid pandemic, new business has declined in recent quarters, resulting in a year-on-year decrease in net interest income of €8.8m to €90.8m in the third quarter of 2021.

Auxillias has hired two experts which will enable the business to strengthen its legal, governance and compliance services offering to its clients, the business said in a statement. The appointment of Simon Brown as director of compliance and training and Carrie Stephenson as director of legal and governance, is in line with the firm’s strategy of continuing to respond to client feedback and providing an offering that meets their demands, the business said.

United Trust Bank (UTB) has appointed Astrid Michael as its new head of sales for its asset finance division following the retirement of Keith Sangwin earlier this year. Michael has worked in the asset finance industry for 20 years and has worked with funders including ING and most recently Hitachi Capital Business Finance where she was sales manager for Farm and Cross Channel Delivery. UTB has developed its asset finance business this year making 11 new appointments to date.

Time Finance has appointed Jonathan Johnson as a business development manager to its invoice finance team, the UK business lender said. Johnson has over 11 years’ industry experience and started his career in debt management at NatWest before moving into a client management and sales role at Hitachi and Ultimate Finance respectively. Johnson will be responsible for building and maintaining intermediary relations whilst expanding the company’s invoice finance offering in the West Midlands and Shropshire regions.