A$550 million Custom Fleet acquisition provides boost for GE Fleet operations in the UK.

Manchester, UK, May 5, 2006 GE Commercial Finance, Fleet Services, today announced that it has agreed to acquire the Custom Fleet business of the National Australia Bank.

GE Commercial Finance has agreed to pay A$550 million (£235 million) for Custom Fleet, which will be combined with GE's existing Fleet Services businesses in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
In the UK, this will mean that GE's fleet operations will increase substantially in size, with Custom Fleet's 17,000 vehicles bringing the total fleet to almost 70,000. Globally, Custom Fleet's 130,000 vehicles will bring GE's worldwide total to 1.33 million.

Rich Green, Managing Director of GE Fleet Services UK, said: "Adding 130,000 vehicles to our global fleet operation provides further scale, operating synergies and expertise to our business. At a UK level, the acquisition of Custom Fleet is a perfect strategic fit and will expand our product and service portfolio in a highly complementary manner.
The success of our business is built upon people, service, customer focus and an extensive product set. This acquisition not only expands our portfolio and channels to market, it also accelerates our growth and allows us to inherit a successful business, a complementary service portfolio and a new set of product and market innovations to broaden our reach."

A team at GE Commercial Finance was responsible for concluding the deal, which is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2006.
Custom Fleet operates fleet leasing and management companies in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, as well as one of Australia's leading fuel management cards, Fleet Card.