ALD has deferred the date for the closure of its acquisition of LeasePlan to 22 May 2023, allowing time for the sale of subsidiaries conditional to merger clearances to go through.

ALD’s acquisition of LeasePlan will close on the same day as the EGM

The leasing giant has announced that its Extraordinary General Meeting, where the Board of Directors will approve the deal, has been pushed back from 28 April to the new date in late May. The closing of the acquisition of LeasePlan by ALD will take place on the same day.

The EGM has been rescheduled to provide more time for the agreement from the European Commission of Credit Agricole Consumer Finance (CACF) as the buyer for ALD’s subsidiaries in Ireland, Portugal and Norway, as well as LeasePlan’s subsidiaries in Luxembourg, Finland and the Czech Republic. The deal is being made via the new Leasys multi-brand vehicle leasing company launched as a 50/50 joint venture between Stellantis and Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance earlier this month.

The sale of the subsidiaries was a condition of approval for the LeasePlan acquisition from the European Commission. The combined fleet of these six entities represented approximately 100,000 vehicles or 3% of the total combined fleet of ALD and LeasePlan as of 31 December 2022.

ALD and LeasePlan first announced late October 2021 that they were in talks over a merger, which was followed by a memorandum of understanding in January 2022.

The acquisition will create a combined firm that will be a leading global player in mobility worldwide and will “embrace the mobility sector’s global growth megatrends”. It will work to move the auto sector from ownership to usership models and zero-emission vehicles, while also accelerating towards data-driven digital transformation of the mobility industry.

The new leasing powerhouse, known as NewALD, will be led by ALD CEO Tim Albertsen and will have a total fleet of some 3.5 million vehicles. Financial results posted by both firms for 2022 show big gains in profits and fleet size.

Once the deal completes, ALD will become a regulated entity with the status of financial holding company and will push ahead with its integration plan, expected to bring annual cost synergies of €440m (£386.3m) by 2025.