GE Capital Australia's Commercial Finance business has entered into an agreement to acquire the business of Allianz Finance Pty Ltd, Allianz Australia's $400 million debtor finance book.
The acquisition will increase GE Capital's Commercial Finance client base, and deliver greater scale and geographic diversity for its asset-backed lending portfolio.
GE Capital Head of Commercial Finance, Aaron Baxter, said the Allianz portfolio was an attractive proposition that would complement GE Capital's current commercial finance offering.
"Bringing these two businesses together will extend our reach and scale and allow us to continue to grow and geographically diversify our portfolio -- not only increasing our client base, but also our sales force on the ground as well.
"The Allianz Finance book is in great shape, with a solid, established and loyal customer-base. This includes a strong presence in Victoria and a strategic focus on lending to mid-market businesses (companies with annual revenues of between $10m and $250m). GE Capital already has relationships with one in four mid-market companies in Australia and the acquisition of the Allianz Finance business allows us to deliver on our strategy of growing our commercial finance offering to this segment.
"Allianz Finance has a dedicated team of specialist experts in the debtor finance business, with significant industry depth and knowledge. We look forward to welcoming the team to GE Capital," Mr Baxter said.
As part of the agreement, GE Capital will adopt Allianz Australia's best-in-class licensed IT platform, allowing it to further improve its customer service levels. This includes enabling GE Capital to offer its customers intra-day funding, increased response times and streamlined processes and reporting.
Commenting on the sale, Nirian Peiris, Managing Director, Allianz Australia said, "The Allianz Finance business has made an excellent contribution to Allianz Australia, having built a solid client base. However, the recent changes to regulatory capital requirements associated with growing this type of business in the future do not align with our business strategy and the opportunity has arisen for it to be acquired by GE Capital. I am confident that the business will continue to perform well under the GE Capital brand.
Louisa Walsh
GE Capital Australia and New Zealand
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