Is Lex Autolease up for
sale? BusinessWeek appears to think so, having spoken to
“a person with direct knowledge of the talks” who says that the
UK’s largest fleet management and leasing company is for sale, with
a rumoured price tag of £1 billion.
Quite aside from
considerations such as goodwill, residual value risk, pensions
liabilities, and the value of the fleet’s IT systems, not to
mention its employees, given Lex Autolease’s fleet size of some
330,000 vehicles, a £1 billion asking price works out at £3,030 per
vehicle. Given that the average auction price for an ex-fleet/lease
vehicle is usually around the £7,000 mark, it appears on the face
of it to be a good deal.
Go deeper with GlobalData
What could be easier:
borrow a billion, sell all the cars and vans, and make £4,000
profit per unit! Simple. Or “simples”, as that dratted meerkat
says. Does anyone have a spare billion they could lend me?
I jest, of course; buying
such a large business is a very complicated process, and buying a
fleet company which manages around three times as many vehicles as
its nearest rival is going to require a lot of commitment, a lot of
funding, and a lot of expertise.
We can only hope – if the
BusinessWeek article is indeed on the money – that whoever ends up
buying Lex Autolease makes a firm commitment to the company and its
employees, and to the overall UK fleet market.
Onto more concrete
matters. It is extremely positive to see that motor industry
charity BEN is to benefit (no pun intended) from the sale of
defleeted cars and vans, thanks to new tie-ups with leasing
companies and auction houses.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataThe charity’s Nigel
Williams says that work on its new initiative – which will see a
small donation going to BEN every time one of its partners sells a
defleeted vehicle – started in mid-2009, and that the response from
the fleet sector has been “fantastic”.
The scheme will mirror the
dealer sector’s giving scheme, whereby manufacturers make a
donation to BEN every time a car is sold, which is a significant
source of funds for the charity; it is hoped that, in two years’
time, the scheme will contribute around half a million pounds to
BEN annually.
Administration of the
scheme will be carried out by the auction house selling the
defleeted stock, with major players BCA and Manheim both signed up,
and more partners in the works, Williams says.
Several large fleet
companies are already involved, and BEN is in talks with many more,
with Williams very positive about the expected outcomes.
I really hope that all
fleet lessors eventually sign up to the scheme. With size of
donation per unit up to the vendor – so far, a sum of £1 seems to
be popular, although this is at lessors’ discretion – it is a
pain-free way for the fleet leasing industry to make a huge
difference to a charity which does an awful lot of good.
I look forward to
receiving a flood of press releases from fleets which have taken
the plunge in weeks and months to come.
Jo Tacon
