LiuGong Machinery, a global construction equipment manufacturer, is expanding its customer leasing and financing program to Europe in a move that builds upon the introduction of the program in North America earlier this year, company executives announced.

LiuGong has selected France-based BNP Paribas Lease Group as its financing partner after the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, SINOSURE, helped to bring the two parties together.

BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, which is one of four firms in the BNP Paribas Lease Group, will administer the program. Executives from both companies signed the agreement at a conference in Paris in mid-December.

Through the agreement, LiuGong will offer a unified platform to provide high quality financial leasing services, which in turn give customers better flexibility and more diversified financial products to meet their financing needs. The program helps LiuGong dealers manage their cash flow more effectively, promoting easier investment into their dealership and product line.

The financial products include loans, financial lease/hire purchase, operating leases, and full service lease/contract hire, among other things. Under the agreement, LiuGong is not liable for loss in a customer default and it does not participate in a risk pool, thus limiting financial exposure.

“When we announced the first phase of our global financing program in March, we knew we also wanted a strong partner in Europe,” said LiuGong vice chairman and president Zeng Guang’an. “BNP Paribas is the number one leasing firm in Europe. It covers all the major LiuGong markets, and they have been extremely cooperative and enthusiastic about this partnership,” he added.

Previously on monitordaily: De Lage Landen, LiuGong Machinery Enter Formal NA Partnership, published February 22, 2011.