The move – intended to transform the business into “North America's fleet management and services powerhouse” – follows the completion of its acquisition of the GE Fleet business in US, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand at the end of September.

In a statement, the company said its plans for growth include “the acquisition of existing fleet management businesses and portfolios as well as fleet services companies that have the potential to drive incremental service fee income for the Company”.

"Having closed the GE Fleet acquisitions, we have already achieved unprecedented scale in the North American fleet management industry," said Steven Hudson, Element's chief executive officer. "However, given the consolidation and organic growth opportunities that we continue to see in this sector and the risk-weighted returns that are historically available from this business versus our other verticals, we believe our shareholders will be best served by rebalancing the company's allocation of capital in favour of our fleet management business," added Mr Hudson.

The company also announced plans to invest US$70m in its fleet technology solutions and applications to develop a new technology platform that will support its combined fleet management operations and will double its existing capacity.

In addition, Element confirmed the appointment of Daniel Jauernig as chief operating officer, replacing Bruce Smith who is retiring. Mr Jauernig will report to president Brad Nullmeyer and will have overall responsibility for Element's customer facing operations and systems. He also has direct responsibility for the integration of the operations of the acquired GE fleet operations.