LeasingWorld Recognition Awards winners

25/09/2009

Many of those who made it through a marathon day to attend the evening LeasingWorld Awards ceremony, said it was a stirring experience. Gerry Perham, SVP at IDS Group, who were sponsors of the Awards, commenced proceedings, and introduced the man he said “needs no introduction,” Lord Mitchell. Lord Mitchell (left) addressed the 160 plus audience, saying that the winners of the awards he was about to present were “those who have gone against the herd, stuck to their beliefs, and succeeded.” The winners had been judged for the positive impact they had made on the UK asset finance industry, in terms of supporting its development and success. The awards winners were:

Roger Stone (right with Lord Mitchell) and Close Asset Finance. In complete contrast to the likes of Lehman Brothers and Citigroup, Close Brothers, last of the UK’s traditional merchant banks, has not only kept its independence since the Big Bang in the 1980s , but didn’t succumb to the credit crisis, has always maintained its belief and commitment to leasing and asset finance through it’s leasing company Close Asset Finance. It even started the year by establishing another new company, Close Leasing. So this award goes to Close, for it’s continuity and belief in the UK leasing industry.

 

Chris Stamper (left with Gerry Perham) and ING Lease UK. In 2009 the UK’s lease broker community was progressively cut off by its traditional funding sources, sources that not so long ago had been broadcasting their love of brokers, and commitment to the broker-model. But not all funders pulled back, ING Lease UK maintained, and increased, its lending and commitment to the broking industry. That was a challenge, given the economic problems affecting customer creditworthiness, but with its strong systems and quantitative approach, ING Lease UK has shown a way forward in the current difficult marketplace.

 

 Elliot Lennick (below with Gerry Perham and MAN Financial Services UK. This captive lessor has been carefully  built up by Elliot Lennick, from a startup, one-man operation in 2000, which outsourced everything, to a significant finance company with inhouse systems running a large portfolio, today. In the process, Elliot has steadily increased his area of managerial responsibility to encompass MAN's Northern European operations.  At a time when UK practitioners have been losing their influence in Europe, we feel this achievement deserved our recognition award.

 

Amber Hilkene (left with Lord Mitchell), accepting for Peter Cartwright of Anancap Financial Partners. We were looking for people and companies that showed continuing and significant support, interest and sympathy, to our leasing industry. So in these hard times, who was prepared to invest in independent leasing companies and to put more money into the sector? Anacap Financial Partners continued to show faith in asset finance and leasing, with its commitment to independent lessor Syscap, its acquisition of Ruffler Bank, and its strategy to build a broad based financial group. The award was gracefully accepted by Amber Hilkene, representing Anacap Financial Partners.

 

Lindsay Town (right with Gerry Perham).  Many of the UK’s largest banking names, and their leasing subsidiaries, had gone though a traumatic twelve months. In the particular case of HBOS, their leasing subsidiaries had become huge over the years, and were market leaders in several sectors, yet suddenly, all this work had to be dismantled. Their leasing side was headed by one of our industry's top people, Lindsay Town, who now found he had a very different job to the one he'd been taken on to do.  Although negative in many ways, these events did have a positive side, in that they showed one of our top leasing professionals, in charge of one of the largest lessors in the UK, dealing with extreme adversity and extreme difficulties, and coming out of it with professionalism and integrity.  That was a tough call, and we think the way he carried it out deserves recognition. Last, but by no means least, the winner of the Invigors prize draw for a handsome bottle of bubbly, was “Always Thirsty” Jim McGovern, a director of Asset Life Cycle Management, and as it happens, someone with a lifelong involvement with the leasing industry.

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