Deutsche Bank AG and GE Commercial Finance, through its Vendor Financial Services (VFS) business, announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Deutsche Bank to sell Deutsche Financial Services’ commercial inventory financing businesses. Under the terms of the agreement, Deutsche Bank will receive cash proceeds equal to approximately US-$2.9 billion. This includes the purchase price as well as the repayment of debt. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.
The Deutsche Financial Services businesses involved in this transaction provide commercial inventory financing for over 1,000 manufacturers and nearly 14,000 dealers of industrial equipment, technology products and a wide variety of recreational vehicles. The businesses with about 1,200 employees serve markets in the U.S., Europe and Canada. Excluding securitized receivables of US-$ 2.7 billion, the acquisition provides GE Commercial Finance with US-$ 2.7 billion of net funded receivables. The assets and operations of the DFS manufactured housing business and the consumer financing business are excluded from the transaction.
“This is an important further step in our strategy to focus on core businesses,” said Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank.
“DFS is a premier provider of inventory financing to manufacturers and dealers globally. Their vendor partners and dealer relationships complement and extend the range of products and services that VFS provides to its customers today,” said Bill Cary, President and CEO of GE Vendor Financial Services. “Strong cross-selling opportunities should drive growth opportunities for both VFS and DFS.”