CHG-MERIDIAN Group: International business continues to grow

The CHG-MERIDIAN Group generated lease originations amounting to €373 million in the first nine months of this year; this figure is in line with last year's result. The lease originations’ figure comprises the total capital cost of newly acquired leased assets.


The proportion of new business generated by the subsidiaries located outside Germany rose to 23 per cent in the first nine months. International business totalled €86 million, a year-on-year increase of 48.3 per cent. Lease originations grew particularly in France and at the smaller subsidiaries in Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Although the German parent company accounts for the largest share of total lease originations, the figure of €287 million still fell short of our expectations. Peter Horne, a member of the Management Board of CHG-MERIDIAN Deutsche Computer Leasing AG, commented: "It is difficult to generate significant growth given the sharp drop in prices of IT equipment. With our current order book, we are confident that we will come much closer to meeting our ambitious targets in the fourth quarter."

In order to expand its presence in the German market, CHG-MERIDIAN acquired the Stuttgart-based firm CLV Computer Leasing und Vertriebs Aktiengesellschaft in August of this year. Like CHG-MERIDIAN, CLV specialises in IT leasing. CHG-MERIDIAN is now represented by sales offices at seven locations in Germany – in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Sulzbach and Weingarten. Weingarten is home to a sales team as well as the company's head office.

Established in 1979, CHG-MERIDIAN is one of Europe's leading independent leasing companies specialising in information technology. It offers a full range of services that include flexible financing, services solutions and the remarketing of second-user IT hardware. The Group has subsidiaries in 14 countries throughout Europe. It has two offices in the UK, five in France, seven in Germany and also operates in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland. The CHG-MERIDIAN Group employs a total of 355 people.