ABB Ltd
26 March 2003
ABB Export Bank sells car leasing portfolio for US$ 18.5 million
Zurich, Switzerland, March 26 - ABB said today it has agreed to sell the car
leasing portfolio of ABB Export Bank to the Swiss leasing company,
Auto-Interleasing AG for US$ 18.5 million. Auto-Interleasing AG, based in Basle,
Switzerland, is specialised in fleet management.
The deal is part of ABB's strategy to divest non-core businesses to focus on
power and automation technologies and reduce debt. It is scheduled to close on
March 31, 2003, and ABB said proceeds from the sale would be used to further
reduce its net debt.
'This is part of our ongoing divestments this year of non-core businesses, and
was instrumental for the upcoming sale of the main business of ABB Export Bank
in export, trade and project financing,' said Peter Voser, ABB's chief financial
officer. 'We reached a fair price above book value for the leasing portfolio,
reflecting the quality of the assets.'
ABB Export Bank was part of the Structured Finance business area of ABB's
former Financial Services division. ABB sold most of its Structured Finance
business area last year to GE Commercial Finance for US$ 2.3 billion.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable
utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering
environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in more than 100
countries and employs about 139,000 people.
Established in 1949, Auto-Interleasing AG is the oldest and largest
privately-held and completely independent service provider for vehicle leasing
in Switzerland and specialized in fleet management for corporate customers. As
part of the Fleet Synergy alliance Interleasing can help provide its customers
with a solution to their vehicle requirements in 35 countries.
This press release includes forward-looking information and statements that are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ.
These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections
about global economic conditions, the economic conditions of the regions and
industries that are major markets for ABB Ltd and ABB Ltd's lines of business.
These expectations, estimates and projections are generally identifiable by
statements containing words such as 'expects', 'believes', 'estimates' or
similar expressions. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expectations include, among others, economic and market
conditions in the geographic areas and industries that are major markets for
ABB's businesses, market acceptance of new products and services, changes in
governmental regulations, interest rates, fluctuations in currency exchange
rates and such other factors as may be discussed from time to time in ABB's
filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although ABB Ltd
believes that its expectations reflected in any such forward-looking statement
are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that those
expectations will be achieved.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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