London/Hanover 11 November 2011: GE Capital has recently agreed distribution finance facilities with agricultural machinery manufacturer Kverneland, a leading player in the agricultural and viticultural machinery markets, specializing in seeding and harvesting machines and ploughs. The programme will support the Kverneland dealer network in both Sweden and Denmark. From their base in Norway the company is looking to grow their business and GE Capital has worked with them to design a bespoke financial solution to support liquidity, enable growth within their dealer network, and offer flexible terms to support manufacturer-dealer network relationships.
Other customers include; French agricultural spraying equipment company Berthoud; German potato harvesting equipment company Grimme, for whom GE Capital facilitates UK distribution; and Swedish cultivation and drilling equipment specialist Vaderstad.
GE Capital, a European market leader of floor plan finance, through their Commercial Distribution Finance (CDF) business, will be discussing the benefits of these distribution and dealer financing programmes to the agricultural machinery industry at this year's Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany (15-19th November).
Distribution finance supports manufacturers and dealers by reducing the financial risks involved in holding product in inventory whilst also helping to improve cash flow and increase sales volumes. GE Capital CDF has over 35 years' experience of financing distribution channels across Europe and the Middle East in multiple sectors such as agriculture, automobile, motorbike, recreational vehicles and marine, and provides more than €7 billion in volume terms annually.
In Europe, Middle East and Africa, GE Capital finances more than 3,000 dealers, and is equipped to service pan-European facilities with powerful distribution channel analytics tools, including an advanced proprietary Customer Online Management System (COMS). The system enables both manufacturer and dealer networks to transparently view, manage and pay for units funded in the programme.
Andrew Stafferton, Agriculture Equipment Industry Leader at GE Capital Commercial Distribution Finance says: "We are finding that many dealers and manufacturers in the agricultural sector are looking for alternative sources of financing as a result of constrained bank lending, but also because they want a finance provider with a deeper understanding of their industry and technology, who can take a true partnership approach to the relationship."
"Distribution finance has the added benefit of allowing manufacturers to retain their dealer network relationships, while providing the funding and support to help customers achieve their aspirations for growth."
Zoe Chambers
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