The British competition authority, the Competition and markets authority (CMA), gave the green light on Monday 8 November for the acquisition of LeasePlan by ALD Automotive (a subsidiary of Société Générale). The French bank proposed to the European commission, according to media company Les Echos, to divest certain activities in several countries where the future car leasing giant could be too dominant.

Because of this latest proposal, the European commission has agreed to postpone its decision until 25 November. Initially, the European central bank and the directorate-general competition of the European commission had until 11 November to approve the deal, which would see ALD Automotive take control of LeasePlan for an estimated €4.9bn.

For the moment, little information has been released about the assets that would be sold. However, according to Les Echos, while the French and Dutch markets (the birthplace of ALD and LeasePlan) do not appear to be concerned, discussions are reportedly focusing on the positions of a "New ALD" in Luxembourg, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Finland and the Czech Republic.

As a reminder, in Luxembourg, ALD has almost 30% of the local market with a fleet of over 16,000 vehicles.

On 4 November, during the presentation of its third quarter results, ALD Automotive posted a net profit of €312.1mn in the third quarter, with a record result for the first nine months of the year of €918.2mn, representing growth of 50.2% compared to the year 2021. The group plans to complete the acquisition of its Dutch competitor LeasePlan in the first quarter of 2023.

ALD manages a fleet of 1.6mn vehicles. LeasePlan, a Dutch group based in Amsterdam, is the European leader in fleet management, with a fleet of 1.8mn vehicles.

This article was first and has been translated by Delano.