Volkswagen AG announced yesterday it planned to acquire, with two co-investors, the LeasePlan business of Dutch bank ABN Amro, for a sum quoted as €2 billion. LeasePlan is Europe’s leading vehicle lessor, with a fleet of 1.074m vehicles under management, 9.719,221 contracts and sales of €812.6m in 2003. LeasePlan Corporation’s assets total €10.8 billion. ABN will receive a dividend from retained earnings of €130 million, according to a VW statement released just ahead of the company’s AGM today. On completion of the transaction, still subject to competition authorities’ and the Dutch central bank’s approval, VW will hold 50% of the equity of LeasePlan, and the other investors - the Greek Olayan Group, and the Abu Dhabi state-owned Mubadala Development Company -will own 25 percent each. VW said its supervisory board would decide in due course how the acquisition would be funded, adding that a state-owned investment company in Abu Dhabi may be interested in holding VW shares.