Stellantis and Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance (CACF) announced on Wednesday that they have signed a binding agreement to acquire ALD's operations in Portugal and LeasePlan's operations in Luxembourg.

Société Générale had expressed its interest in acquiring LeasePlan via its operational leasing division, ALD, in January 2022. The European Commission gave the green light to the €4.9bn project in November. It was however subject to certain commitments to avoid the group being in a dominant position, notably the sale of LeasePlan's activities in the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Finland as well as ALD Automotive’s activities in Ireland, Norway and Portugal.

This is where NewCo comes in, resulting from the consolidation of Leasys and Free2move Lease, and equally owned by Stellantis and CACF.

“The acquisition of the entities in Portugal and Luxembourg is an excellent opportunity to strengthen NewCo from the outset,” explains Philippe de Rovira, director of Stellantis’ subsidiaries. The joint venture already has a fleet of 828,000 vehicles via Leasys and Free2move Lease. And it wants to increase this to one million by 2026. ALD Portugal and LeasePlan Luxembourg will provide an additional 30,000 vehicles.

Six entities taken over

The other entities that the European Commission asked ALD to sell should also follow. While those in the grand duchy and Portugal will be part of NewCo, ALD's activities in Ireland and Norway, and those of LeasePlan in the Czech Republic and Finland, will become part of the structure formed by the acquisition of FCA Bank and Drivalia by CACF.

In total, the six entities represent 100,000 vehicles, or 3% of the combined ALD and LeasePlan fleet as of 31 December 2022.

The deal will “consolidate the partnership between Stellantis and CACF” and accelerate their development in “strategic European countries,” in which the two companies want to rank among the “European leaders in vehicle financing,” they wrote in a statement.

Contacted by Delano’s sister publication Paperjam, they had not communicated the value of the acquisition at the time of publication of the article. The takeover is expected to be completed “in the course of 2023”, after the closing of the creation of NewCo and the approval of the competent authorities.

In Luxembourg, LeasePlan has 58 employees and recorded a profit of €3.8m in 2021, according to the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register (RCS). Its market share is estimated at 17%, compared with 33% for ALD.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.