Wayne, Pa.-based De Lage Landen Financial Services Inc. recently formed a new unit to focus on the U.S. public finance market. The unit, De Lage Landen Public Finance, is headed by president Robert Neptune.
Most recently, Neptune held the same position at Orix Public Finance, a unit of Orix USA Corp., which provides equipment, real estate, and project financing to state and local governments and federal agencies. In that capacity, Neptune was also active in the lease-purchase agreement sector, in which municipalities must make annual appropriations to fund contracts. The agreements involve real estate, such as an office building, or equipment, such as fire trucks or police cars.
Neptune said in a statement: "The combination of De Lage Landen's vast experience in supporting vendor financing and our experience with government financing will allow De Lage Landen to serve the market with one of the broadest product lines available for municipal and federal financing."
De Lage Landen is a Netherlands-based international provider of vendor finance and asset finance programs. The new unit will start offering various types of financing through vendor partnerships and directly to governmental entities within the next few months, according to the statement. It will offer finance products to federal, state, and local governments, and tax-exempt entities, the statement said.
"We are very excited about the opportunity to offer another value added product within the vendor's distribution channel. This product offering should turn into a win-win solution," Bill Hall, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of De Lage Landen Financial Services, said in the statement.
De Lage Landen is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dutch Rabobank Group, which conducts businesses in 20 countries throughout Europe, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific region. It focuses on the food and agriculture business, health care, office equipment, telecommunications, technology finance, materials handling and construction equipment, and financial institutions, according to the statement. In its domestic market, the company offers equipment leasing, among other services.
Neptune was unavailable for comment yesterday. Prior to launching the Orix Public Finance group in May 2001, Neptune was part of a 12-member team that joined the company from TransAmerica Corp., all of whom decided to leave the firm when its parent company, Aegon N.V., was considering a sale of the public finance unit. Orix did not have a public finance group prior to the group's arrival.
On a separate note, Jeffrey D. Sharp, former senior vice president at Orix Public Finance, left the firm last month.
