IRELAND’S FOREMOST FLEET & CORPORATE SECTOR GUIDE
www.fleetcar.ie
Volume 21 No. 3 May 2023
Edited by Cathal Doyle - cathal@fleet.ie
EGM to close ALD acquisition of LeasePlan postponed to May A scheduled Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of ALD to close its acquisition of LeasePlan has been postponed from 28 April to 22 May 2023. The deferment is because the company is awaiting final agreement from the European Commission for the sale of subsidiaries in six markets including Ireland. French company ALD agreed to buy LeasePlan for €4.9 billion in January 2022, with the new leasing company to be known as NewALD. In November, EU
antitrust regulators cleared ALD’s bid for LeasePlan subject to the new entity agreeing to divest some businesses across Europe to address competition concerns. ALD’s subsidiaries in Ireland, Portugal and Norway, and LeasePlan’s subsidiaries in Luxembourg, Finland and the Czech Republic are to be sold to Credit Agricole Consumer Finance and automotive manufacturer, the Stellantis Group. The combined fleet of these six entities represented approximately 100,000 vehicles or 3% of the total combined fleet of ALD and LeasePlan as at 31
December 2022. ALD Automotive is the fleet management arm of French Bank Société Générale. It purchased what was Merrion Fleet Management in 2017, at the time the second largest leasing and fleet management company in Ireland. It currently has 9,000 vehicles under management. LeasePlan manages in excess of 21,500 vehicles in Ireland.
EV Charge Points installed at 13 hotel locations by ePower
90 new electric vehicle charge points are being installed at 13 hotel locations throughout Ireland by hotel operators, Windward Management. The charging infrastructure was installed by ePower who supply, install, support and manage electric vehicle chargers throughout Ireland. EV charging stations are now available at the following 11 hotels: Connemara Coast Hotel, McWilliam Park Hotel, The Radisson Blu Dublin Airport,
Plaza Hotel Tallaght, Tallaght Cross Hotel, Mount Wolseley Hotel, Park Inn Shannon Airport, Aghadoe Heights, Cavan Crystal Hotel, Farnham Estate, and Harvey’s Point. Facilities at two additional hotels, The Fitzwilton Hotel and The Anner Hotel, are due to go live shortly. The 22kW AC electric vehicle charge points are visible on several EV charging apps such as Plugsurfing, the ePower app and on the internationally used app, PlugShare. Group General Manager at Windward Management Charlie Sheil believes
it’s a good investment for the future: “We are delighted to offer ePower Car Charging Facilities across our portfolio of hotels, feedback from customers has been fantastic so far and we are looking forward to expanding the facilities in line with our sustainability initiatives”. Executive Director of ePower Hugh Hall says he’s delighted to be partnering with Windward: “The ePower team was pleased to install EV chargers for the Windward Managed hotels as they work to improve their approach to sustainability. As well as installing the equipment, we’re looking forward to growing our partnership as we manage and maintain the chargers at these Windward properties in the future”. www.fleet.ie