Before ABN AMRO Lease Holding N.V., the parent com­pany of LeasePlan USA, announced on Oct. 26, 2000 it had agreed to acquire fleet management services company Consolidated Ser­vice Corporation (CSC), the two com­panies did not share many clients.

The acquisition was finalized on Dec 11, 2000 and LeasePlan and CSC look to provide clients of both companies with a larger menu of services, increased technology and more fleet management experience at every level.

“This acquisition offers both compa­nies many valuable synergies, which we feel will greatly ex­pand both our cur­rent product and service offerings and enlarge our over­all expertise in the industry," said Hugo Levecke, CEO and chairman of the board of LeasePlan's parent company, ABN AMRO Lease Holding.

Ron Starr, presi­dent of the family-owned CSC, which is based in Elk Grove Village, IL, and has been in business for more than 60 years, be­comes a senior vice president of Lease-Plan USA in a con­sultative capacity, reporting to David Dahm, president/CEO of LeasePlan USA. Starr said Don Kreft, who re­tired as president and CEO of Lease-Plan USA in July 2000, approached Starr and his father, CSC CEO Pat Starr, in the summer of 1999 about CSC helping LeasePlan expand its accident management and rental ca­pabilities. Those talks evolved into LeasePlan acquiring the entire busi­ness of CSC, including all of CSC's buildings and its brand name.

Pat Starr will continue with the company as a consultant during the transition.

LeasePlan Taps Claybrooks to Oversee Transition

John Claybrooks, an e-business and transition specialist formerly with IBM Global Services, has been hired as LeasePlan's vice president of business transformation and inte­gration. He will lead a select group of LeasePlan and CSC management personnel in guiding and completing the transition of CSC within one year. A project team of department-specific associates from both com­panies will also outline their particular synergies, best practices, and goals and report to the Steering Committee headed by Claybrooks.

Claybrooks said one of the first priorities of the transition is to make certain that all of CSC's more than 2,000 clients know that LeasePlan recognizes the value, reputation and brand equity of the CSC name.

"This acquisition is extremely unique in our industry in that it's the first time a major lessor has com­bined its strengths with a fleet man­agement services partner that pioneered the business," Dahm said. "It would not be in our best interests to change the name, eliminate any of their product and service offerings or develop a strategy that dilutes their service reputa­tion in any way," added Dahm.

LeasePlan clients can expect enhanced maintenance and ac­cident management programs, fleet management soft­ware, insurance service offerings, and a maintenance call center avail­able 24 hours a clay, seven days a week.

CSC President Ron Starr said, "We saw LeasePlan as a unique partner that has the same values and commit­ments to clients that we do. From a business standpoint, we have added product choices, technology enhance­ments and opened doors to new inter­national capabilities."

He added that "CSC wanted to give our customers the choice of running a fleet separate — manag­ing their own data — or running it through an e-commerce solution."

Dahm and Starr envision the two companies taking the best Internet practices from each company and eventually presenting them in a common platform. LeasePlan's re­cent certification for ISO 9002 will also be a template for documenta­tion processes at CSC in the future. Additionally, the short-term vision is to get all billing for both companies through the Internet. "For a com­bined client, we want to give them a portal to get all information elec­tronically through one source," Dahm said. "We will be able to pro­duce for the account one summa­rized bill with all their costs detailed out and it's not coming from two sources."

CSC now joins LeasePlan and QEK Global Solutions as part of the LeasePlan Group. QEK provides au­tomobile manufacturers and OEM suppliers with the delivery of automo­biles, logistics, engineering, sales/ marketing support, and integration of specialty automotive services.

Dahm said he also sees synergies between CSC and QEK.

"We're using QEK as a delivering dealer where they actually will be delivering vehicles to our drivers in certain locations," Dahm said. "Their work and their relationships with the manufacturers and the OEMs that support the manufactur­ers holds a great value in that they can utilize CSC in some of their accident management programs that some OEMs and manufacturers do not have today."

The sales forces of the two orga­nizations will be combined under the direction of Gary Scanlon, LeasePlan's senior vice president, sales and marketing.

"For both LeasePlan and CSC, our past success in new business development has come in large part through the ability of our sales staffs to build strong, professional relationships with their prospects and maintain these relationships after being awarded the business," Scanlon said. LeasePlan Vice Pres­ident Richard Pipenhagen will manage the eastern U.S. and CSC Vice President Phil Brennan will manage the western U.S. Both will report directly to Scanlon.

LeasePlan's Maintenance Operations Heads to Chicago

LeasePlan's fleet maintenance operations will move to Elk Grove Village, IL.

However, the two companies have few services that overlap, unlike when two fleet management lessors merge.

"Even where there is some over­lap, we need experienced personnel in other areas. Due to the fast growth of both LeasePlan and CSC, there will be opportunities for advancement in Atlanta and Chicago," Dahm said.