HITACHI Capital Corporation has acquired Netherlands car leasing company Noordlease Holding BV.

The agreement for an undisclosed sum is to make Noordlease a subsidiary of Hitachi Capital Corporation as of January 31, 2017.

Under Hitachi Capital’s strategy to expand the Vehicle Solutions business in continental Europe, the business has entered the auto leasing market in the Netherlands and becomes the first Japanese leasing company to do so.
The Netherlands is Hitachi Capital’s third European base following the UK and Poland.

In the Netherlands, financing and other services for vehicles such as cars and trains are proliferating and the auto lease market continues to expand.

Since its establishment in 1982, Noordlease has provided high quality solutions combining auto leasing with its related services of maintenance, insurance and other services.

Noordlease has a solid business position in the Netherlands market, with total assets just under £60m and profit £2.868m for the financial year ending December 2015.

Hitachi Capital is aiming for further business growth and expansion in continental Europe as a result of the acquisition of Noordlease and says it will continue to seek further new business opportunities for its Vehicle Solutions business in order to expand and achieve systematic growth on a global basis in the future.

Although the acquisition price has not been disclosed, in order to ensure fairness in determining the price, Hitachi Capital engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory N.V. as a third party independent from the Group and Noordlease.

The group calculated the equity value of Noordlease, and reached an agreement with the shareholders of Noordlease.