ALMERE, THE NETHERLANDS – LeasePlan Corporation and Europcar Fleet Services have reached agreement regarding the acquisition of Volkswagen’s brand-independent fleet management activities in Italy, Portugal, and Spain, according to the Web site, www.2fleet.com/. The transaction, which is subject to the approval of the regulatory authorities, is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2005. The integration of Europcar Fleet Services into the LeasePlan companies in Italy, Portugal, and Spain will take about a year. The companies together manage a portfolio worth EUR 942 million and a fleet of nearly 85,000 vehicles and employ almost 500 staff, reported www.2fleet.com. It had been agreed upon the change in shareholder structure in November 2004 that LeasePlan Corporation would assume Volkswagen’s brand-independent fleet management activities on arm’s length conditions. The German sales activities of Europcar Fleet Services will be transferred to Volkswagen Leasing GmbH later this year. Burkhard Breiing, chairman of the Management Board of Volkswagen Financial Services AG, said in the www.2fleet.com report that: "LeasePlan will remain strategically independent of Volkswagen and can continue its successful business model unchanged."