Grenke AG — Capital/Financing Update 2006

Aug 4, 2006

News Details

Corporate | 4 August 2006 10:58

GRENKELEASING AG: Milestones for further growth: extension of refinancing basis – expansion of franchise activities

Corporate news transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Baden-Baden, 4 August 2006: GRENKELEASING lays the foundation for further growth by issuing its ABS bond and signing a franchise agreement with Kazenmaier Fleetservice GmbH. With effect as of 4 August 2006, GRENKELEASING placed its first ABS bond for EUR 250 million via the special purpose vehicle GOALS (GRENKE Ongoing Asset Lease Securitisation). This kind of financing means that the special purpose vehicle will issue several tranches of bonds with different ratings (risk classes). The share of the best-rated tranche mirrors the quality of the group’s leasing portfolio and risk management and has a direct impact on the costs of this type of financing. “An 85 % share of the highest rating given by Standard & Poor’s (AAA) and Moody’s (Aaa) goes to show the high quality of our portfolio and internal processes”, explained Dr. Uwe Hack, CFO of GRENKELEASING AG. “This step gives us access to a very liquid and stable refinancing market at attractive rates and forms the basis for further growth”, he added. The signing of the franchise agreement with Kazenmaier Fleetservice GmbH marks a further step in GRENKELEASING’s product development strategy. The objective is to exploit the strong market position of small and medium-sized companies and use the good customer base in Germany for cross-selling. In Kazenmaier, based in south west Germany, GRENKELEASING has gained a franchise partner that is a leading vehicle leasing company and will benefit from Kazenmaier’s high brand recognition level and competence in the field of mobility and fleet management. “Our new franchise partner complements our direct selling business in the south of Germany and is therefore an important part of our efforts towards further expansion”, said Wolfgang Grenke, CEO of GRENKELEASING AG, commenting on the new partnership. About GRENKELEASING AG The company now has operations in 16 European countries. GRENKELEASING is represented in 20 cities throughout Germany. In addition to its six French branch offices and three branch offices in Switzerland, the company has subsidiaries in Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, and Belgium. A franchise system gives GRENKELEASING a presence in the UK, Poland, Norway, and Hungary. GRENKELEASING mainly offers small-ticket IT leasing contracts, i.e. for products such as PCs, notebooks, copiers, printers, or software having relatively small transaction values. The company is the German and Swiss market leader in this segment. GRENKELEASING AG is listed in the Prime Standard segment of the German stock exchange in Frankfurt and has a listing on the SDAX (small-cap) index. Information on the company and its products is available on the internet under http://www.grenkeleasing.de. Press Officer GRENKELEASING AG, Neuer Markt 2, 76532 Baden-Baden Renate Hauss Tel.: 07221/5007-204 Fax: 07221/5007-112 E mail: investor@grenkeleasing.de (c)DGAP 04.08.2006 ————————————————————————— Language: English Issuer: GRENKELEASING AG Neuer Markt 2 76532 Baden-Baden Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)7221 50 07-204 Fax: +49 (0)7221 50 07-112 E-mail: investor@grenkeleasing.de WWW: www.grenkeleasing.de ISIN: DE0005865901 WKN: 586590 Indices: SDAX Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Stuttgart, München, Düsseldorf, Hamburg End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————