finance portfolio. De Lage Landen has had a joint venture with AGCO, the world's largest
manufacturer of agricultural equipment, for 22 years; this joint venture goes by the name
of AGCO Finance. AGCO Finance has a presence in 18 countries, covering virtually every
continent. The company finances about 50% of all AGCO sales in these markets.
Finance Mobility Solutions
Although volume growth in the Dutch lease market was generally low in 2011, De Lage Landen
managed to increase its market share. Economic growth slowed down, particularly in the
construction sector. The healthcare leasing market did continue to show growth, however.
In De Lage Landen's experience, factoring is increasingly being used in the Dutch market to
improve working capital management. The factoring product portfolio was expanded further
in 2011.
One of De Lage Landen's labels in the Dutch consumer loan market is Freo, a specialist online
provider of consumer loans. Streamlined processes help to keep customer fees low. In 2011,
Freo acquired the consumer loan portfolio of several Achmea labels, which will be operated
under the Fideaal label. Thanks to this transaction, De Lage Landen now has an even larger
share of the market. Becoming the shirt sponsor of Eindhoven-based football club PSV further
boosted Freo's public profile as an online lender. The volume of the total consumer loan
portfolio rose by EUR 0.3 billion in 2011, reaching EUR 1.3 billion.
Corporate social responsibility in leasing
De Lage Landen organises its sustainability activities along four strategic focus areas:
Sustainable Innovative Solutions
The Clean Tech business continues to expand, both in terms of deal flow and entry into new
markets.The focus is on the solar, wind, lighting and ESCOs (Energy Service Companies) sectors.
De Lage Landen has established a dedicated lease fund that will provide lease financing to
promising, early stage clean-tech and sustainable food and agriculture companies. This fund
will complement the existing Clean Tech and eco-innovation work already ongoing within
both divisions by facilitating more cutting edge companies and technologies.
De Lage Landen is investigating opportunities related to Life Cycle Asset Management. LCAM
will allow the organisation to play a more strategic role in managing equipment lifecycles and
better facilitate the refurbishment and remanufacturing activities of its manufacturing partners.
The organisation trained its staff on sustainability and has developed detailed analyses of the
sustainability activities by key vendors partners and industry sectors, highlighting sector
trends, risks and best practices.
Athlon Car Lease has established the development program 'CHARGED'to create a one-stop-
shop for electric vehicles for customers. Currently, Athlon has more than 300 electric cars in its
fleet with more than 100 on back order. Athlon also recently reached an agreement with Tesla
to develop a pan-European leasing program for their future Model S. The 5-step Sustainable
Mobility Plan, which affirms Athlon's ambition of transitioning from traditional lease car
provider to a provider of mobility services, was also further expanded in 2011
Our way of doing business
De Lage Landen has completed an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risk heat map
that identifies those areas of the business that exhibit increased ESG risks. This heat map will
be used to identify the need for additional ESG risk policies covering specific industry sectors
or ethical concerns. De Lage Landen is also updating its overall governance model for
managing ESG risk and has recently revised the armaments policy framework, updating its
commitment to refrain from business involving controversial weapons manufacturers.
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Our specialised subsidiaries
