Alongside his day job as head of organisation and data processing at a medium-sized electrical engineering company, Jürgen Gelf starts up his own firm: CHG Computer-Handels-Gesellschaft mbH. He conducts the first transactions from his office at home.

His workplace consists of a table with what at the time was a cutting-edge IBM spherical-head typewriter, four ring-binder folders, a dictating machine and the most state-of-the-art communications equipment of its day: a punched-tape telex machine. The firm is based in Berg near Ravensburg, southern Germany.

Financing accounts for an increasingly large proportion of the Company's business. Its name is changed to CHG Computer Leasing- und Handelsgesellschaft mbH to reflect this trend. The Company is growing rapidly: three vacant flats available in the building are converted into offices and more employees are recruited. The first IT department is set up and its computers (IBM 32) are installed in the basement.

The Company is growing far too big to be housed in the building where Jürgen Gelf lives. He arranges for its first office block to be built in the nearby town of Berg, and the Company moves into its new premises in 1986.

The Company is restructured and in July is renamed CHG Computer Leasing GmbH. Thanks to its proactive strategy it begins to grow increasingly rapidly and successfully.

CHG Computer Leasing GmbH broadens its portfolio of services by acquiring companies. It launches its new growth strategy successfully by acquiring the Munich-based firm IVG GmbH at the end of 1993.

CHG Computer Leasing GmbH acquires the Wiesbaden-based firm FGM-Meridian, a company of approximately the same size. The two companies complement each other ideally: while CHG's business is primarily focused on southern Germany, FGM operates mainly in the north and west of the country. The Company now operates nationwide for the first time under the new name of CHG-MERIDIAN.

CHG-MERIDIAN acquires the Karlsruhe-based firm CICS GmbH, one of its strongest competitors for public-sector clients. CHG-MERIDIAN is now a leasing partner to more than 60 per cent of all public-sector organisations in Baden-Württemberg. It employs 67 people at the end
of 1996.

CHG-MERIDIAN becomes a public limited company (Aktiengesellschaft) so that it is well-equipped for further growth. It is now called CHG-MERIDIAN Deutsche Computer Leasing AG. In the same year it acquires Munich-based CSC Leasing, another company with many years' experience of IT leasing.

The total volume of lease originations exceeds €150 million for the first time in the Company's history; it employs 81 people at the end of the year.

CHG-MERIDIAN sets up its own subsidiaries in the UK and Austria. The total volume of lease originations exceeds €240 million. The Company opens a state-of-the-art brokerage and logistics centre in Mörfelden near Frankfurt am Main.

By purchasing the European leasing business of the American company El Camino Resources,
CHG-MERIDIAN acquires further subsidiaries in Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. An El Camino subsidiary in the United Kingdom is integrated into
CHG-MERIDIAN's existing local subsidiary. This acquisition increases CHG-MERIDIAN's total headcount to 220.

In the same year CHG-MERIDIAN acquires majority stakes in the two systems houses n-komm GmbH, Karlsruhe, and abakus Systemhaus AG, Weingarten (now abakus IT AG). The Company is gradually being transformed from an IT financier into an IT portfolio manager whose offering includes a broad range of IT services in addition to financial services.

CHG-MERIDIAN acquires the Dutch leasing provider Nedlease BV and merges it with its Dutch subsidiary CHG-MERIDIAN Computer Leasing Netherlands BV. Its total volume of lease originations hits a new all-time high of €545 million.

24 years after it was founded, CHG-MERIDIAN moves its head office from Berg to Weingarten. In March the Company moves into its new office building in Franz-Beer-Strasse, where it has a total of 10,500 square metres of office space on eight floors. A total of 116 people work there, and the Company employs 266 people throughout Europe.

CHG-MERIDIAN acquires 25 per cent of CML Services GmbH, a company based in Ingolstadt, southern Germany, that offers IT services and consulting. In September 2003 CHG-MERIDIAN acquires the IT leasing portfolio of the Swiss company COS Systems AG and establishes its own subsidiary in Switzerland.

CHG-MERIDIAN acquires the French company Finexis S.A. In addition to the French parent company it also acquires the firm's wholly-owned Italian subsidiary Finexis Italia S.p.A. and a majority stake in the French company Finexis Medical SAS, which specialises in leasing medical equipment. The CHG-MERIDIAN Group buys the Italian company PARSYS Italia S.p.A.

The new subsidiary is renamed CHG-MERIDIAN Italia S.p.A. The CHG-MERIDIAN Group expands into eastern Europe by setting up subsidiaries in Russia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is now represented in ten European countries. It opens a new sales office in Hamburg.

CHG-MERIDIAN acquires the CSL Group, thereby becoming one of the leading IT financiers in Belgium. CHG-MERIDIAN subsidiaries in Spain and Poland open for business. By acquiring CLV Computer Leasing AG, a Stuttgart-based company, the CHG-MERIDIAN Group continues to expand its presence in south-west Germany.

The CHG-MERIDIAN Group establishes the subsidiary CHG-direct Leasing GmbH so that it can enter the small-ticket IT leasing market (financing of small-scale IT projects). This new subsidiary is based in Weingarten.

TÜV Informationstechnik GmbH (TÜViT), Germany's safety standards authority, certifies CHG-MERIDIAN's data erasure process. This makes CHG-MERIDIAN the first company in Germany to offer its clients a fully certified process for erasing data from computers' hard drives.

The Supervisory Board appoints Joachim Schulz and Dirk Stobbe to the Management Board with effect from
1 January 2007. Schulz was previously the Company's commercial director and Stobbe was head of sales in Düsseldorf in addition to building up its Hamburg office. The Company achieves a new record volume of €655 million in total lease originations and employs 512 people across Europe.

It has always been an integral part of CHG-MERIDIAN's corporate philosophy not just to identify trends at an early stage but to set them. Ever since the Company was founded we have been considered innovators in the IT financing sector, which we proved once more in 2008 by developing service modules such as output solutions, ERP and managed desktop services.

We set up a subsidiary in Slovenia to drive forward our eastward expansion Europe. We also acquire a larger stake in CML Services GmbH, making CHG-MERIDIAN the main shareholder with 60 per cent of its shares.

CHG-MERIDIAN enters into an alliance with ORIX Rentec Corporation, which enables it to respond to growing demand and serve its customers in Japan, China, Korea and Singapore in line with local market conditions. ORIX Rentec, which was set up in 1979 and is headquartered in Japan, is the world's largest provider of financial solutions for computers, analytical instruments and testing equipment.

CHG-MERIDIAN buys the US and Canadian businesses of leasing provider El Camino Resources International Inc. and acquires a 50 per cent stake in El Camino in Mexico, thereby creating a robust platform on which to grow this business in North and Central America. The CHG Group is now represented in 18 countries worldwide.

CHG-MERIDIAN expands its existing German client portfolio by taking over SURACON Finanz und Service AG, a company headquartered in Wassenberg near Düsseldorf, which specialises in IT leasing and marketing solutions.

In July, CHG-MERIDIAN UK Limited, which is based in Egham near London, acquires 100 per cent of the share capital in Wyse Finance Limited. This company, which was created in 2006 when Wyse Leasing bought up a number of regional companies, provides its customers with IT financial services. Most of Wyse's clients are small and medium-sized firms. The new company trades under the name of CHG-MERIDIAN Capital Limited.