In brief

International agricultural cooperative Royal Cosun has signed a 10-year lease contract with BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions to finance more than 28,000 solar panels located at the Cosun Solar Park in Puttershoek, the Netherlands.

It is the first green financing that Cosun has concluded, and contributes to the ambition to be CO2 neutral by 2050, the company said in a press release.

The solar farm project investment will generate 9.2 million kWh per year, equivalent to the energy consumption of approximately 3,250 households.

Total asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) grew by 6 per cent across the UK in August 2021 compared with the same month in 2020, according to figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA).

In the eight months to August 2021, new business was 22 per cent higher than in the same period in 2020.

The commercial vehicle finance sector reported new business up by 15 per cent in August compared with the same month in 2020.

ConnectedFi, a cloud-based provider of deal flow software for equipment finance brokers, has achieved its 2,000th deal through its IT network that connects asset finance brokers and funders, the fintech said in a statement.

Its API (application programme interface) layer is designed to improve turnaround speeds for credit decisions and reduce operational risks, the company added.

By integrating brokers’ management systems, the API lay technology allows for the funding proposal information to be sent in exactly the format required by the funder.

Specialist lender and asset finance provider Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has agreed to acquire Wesleyan Bank from financial services mutual Wesleyan Assurance Society, subject to regulatory approval.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, is expected to complete during the coming months. The combined business will be led by Matthew Wyles as CEO with Tim Blackwell as CFO.

As part of the acquisition, 115 Wesleyan Bank employees will transfer with the bank and will continue to work from Wesleyan’s existing offices.

Grenke AG, a provider of financing for SMEs across Europe, posted new leasing business of €372.2m in the third quarter of 2021 (Q3 2020: €517.6m).

Global supply chain bottlenecks, specifically at manufacturers of computer and office equipment, were the cause of the weaker year-on-year new leasing business.

The contribution margin declined slightly in the third quarter due to refinancing costs and amounted to 17.1 per cent (Q3 2020: 18.4 per cent).

New business volume is the total acquisition cost of all newly purchased leased assets.

BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, a provider of equipment finance based in France, has appointed Mirco Fusari as chief financial officer.

He replaces Gianluca Masciadri who has been appointed as chief financial officer of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, an Italy-based subsidiary of BNP Paribas. In his new role, Fusari will report directly to BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions chief executive Isabelle Loc.

Fusari, 46, has 21 years’ experience in the leasing industry and joined BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions in 2000.

Q2 Holdings, a US-based provider of digital financial services, has opened its London office in the vicinity of St Paul’s Cathedral and the London Stock Exchange.

Q2 said the office will accommodate the growth of Q2’s employee base in the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, with roles ranging from sales, operations and partnership managers.

“The new office doubles our footprint and underpins our regional expansion plans,” said Ian Nelson, EMEA MD at Q2.

DF Capital, a UK specialist commercial lending and personal savings bank, has celebrated its first anniversary of being awarded a banking licence by the Prudential Regulation Authority.

The company, founded in June 2016, and which listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market in 2019, initially focused on providing flexible working capital solutions to dealers and manufacturers across the UK.

In September 2020, when its banking licence was granted, DF Capital successfully launched a range of personal savings products.

Secured-lending platform provider HPD LendScape has announced it has taken on Xavier Lang-Claes as a full-time consultant.

Lang-Claes has 25 years of experience in the industry, and is a highly respected expert who brings a wealth of technical and business knowledge to the business, HPD said in a statement.

While primarily responsible for helping the company achieve new sales objectives, Lang-Claes will also take on the role of product owner of the company’s flagship working capital finance solution, the company added.

Hitachi Capital Business Finance, a division of Hitachi Capital (UK) Plc, is to rebrand as Novuna Business Finance by April 2022, the company has said in a press release.

The move will coincide with Hitachi Capital (UK) Plc changing its legal name to Mitsubishi HC Capital UK Plc, following the merger earlier this year of Hitachi Capital Corporation with Mitsubishi UFJ Lease and Finance Company, forming Mitsubishi HC Capital.