30th Nov 2006 07:01
Merchant House Group PLC30 November 2006 30 November 2006 Merchant House Group plc Creation of new asset finance operation Merchant House Group plc (the "Group" or "MHG"), the AIM-quoted corporatefinance and services group, is pleased to announce the establishment of a newventure, Merchant House Finance Limited ("MHF"), supplying leasing and assetfinance services in the UK. MHF's target market will be small and medium sizedenterprises requiring asset based financing with a deal size between £30,000 and£30 million. This move is in line with MHG's strategic objective of providing abroadening range of integrated corporate financial services for its growingclient base. MHF has been set up as a joint venture company between MHG and IndustrialInvestment Group Limited ("IIG"), an established leasing and asset financebusiness founded by its CEO, John Lutterloch. Under the joint ventureagreement, IIG intends to transfer its four existing captive leasingsubsidiaries and all its existing lease contracts into MHF. MHG will invest£40,000 for 49% of MHF and has an option to acquire from IIG a further 26% inthree years time at a valuation of eight times the audited profit after tax ofMHF for the twelve months to December 2009 plus further consideration equal to10% of any increase in post tax profits for the two years thereafter. The board of MHF will consist of John Lutterloch as Chairman and CEO, PeterRedmond (CEO of Merchant House Group), James Holmes (Non-executive director ofMerchant House Group) and Stuart Webster (Chairman of IIG). John Lutterloch hasover 30 years experience in banking and financial services and was formerlyManaging Director of GE Capital for UK and Northern Europe, Managing Director ofBaltic Leasing Limited and Vice President of Security International LeasingEurope Inc. Stuart Webster has spent over 40 years in banking, includingassignments as General Manager and Group Chief Executive, for Chase ManhattanBank, London and Chief Executive of Gulf Bank. Peter Redmond, Chief Executive of MHG, said: "We are delighted to have securedfor the Group the expertise in leasing and asset financing of John Lutterlochand his team. Together we intend to build a significant leasing business overthe next few years. Merchant House Group's strategy is to provide a broad range of corporate financeservices and funding options to growing entrepreneurial companies. The creationof this new venture is the next step in building the comprehensive financing andadvisory capability which will enable us to offer complete solutions includinginnovative debt products to complement our existing equity capability." For further information please contact: Peter Redmond Merchant House Group 020 7332 2200Alan Piper First City Financial PR 020 7436 7486 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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