The export financing division of German state-owned bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW), has announced plans to enter the leasing market. KfW is to take over a 50 per cent stake in German leasing company IKB Immobilien-Leasing, a leasing company of the German bank IKB. A price for the deal is not known.
KfW Ipex Bank is looking to expand its operations in the area of medium- and long-term funding for capital goods and hopes to be able to offer customers funding solutions for leasing. It plans to focus on commercial property and industrial goods, but also provide funding for large moveables such as ships and aircraft.
The IKB acquisition puts Ipex well on the way to achieving these plans. Following new EU regulations, KfW is to completely separate Ipex in 2006, which is currently being run as a virtually independent institute within the bank. In the first year since the separation process was started, KfW says Ipex has exceeded its targets.
