DLL, a Rabobank subsidiary and global provider of asset-based financial solutions, reached an agreement to sell its mobility solutions entity Athlon Car Lease International including all its subsidiaries to Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Nederland, a part of the Daimler Financial Services global network.

The sale transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, once all required approvals and consents have been obtained from the necessary regulatory authorities and other relevant bodies. The consideration for the shares amounts to €1.1 billion ($1.22 billion). As a result of the transaction, the Rabobank CET1 ratio is estimated to improve with approximately 40 basis-points. BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor to Rabobank Group on this sale.

A part of DLL since 2006, Athlon is an international provider of vehicle leasing and mobility solutions, active in 11 countries throughout Europe, managing a fleet of more than 250,000 vehicles. Mercedes Benz Financial Services, Nederland is part of Daimler Financial Services, a worldwide provider of financial services in over 40 countries that manages a fleet of more than 3.7 million vehicles. The future business of the consolidated fleet operations between Daimler Fleet Management and Athlon will operate under the Athlon brand.

“This is the right step for Athlon and the right step for DLL, who can now wholly focus all of its resources, investments and innovation toward our core business of vendor finance, and create greater synergies with our parent, Rabobank”, said Bill Stephenson, CEO and chairman of the executive board of DLL.

The sale shows that Rabobank has reaffirmed its strong commitment to to DLL, its global vendor finance company, as an important contributor to its strategy.

“DLL will continue to fulfill an important role in our overall product portfolio and also to service key international customers of the bank, particularly in the food and agricultural sector,” said Wiebe Draijer, CEO of Rabobank. “They are guided by a strong leadership team and continue to be an impressive and significant contributor to Rabobank. We are proud of their contributions to the Rabobank Group, and we are committed to creating further synergies between DLL and Rabobank, particularly if this creates more value for our customers.”

“With a mandate to grow our market leading vendor finance business, we look forward to enhancing our many long-standing relationships with top manufacturers, distributors and dealers across all of our key industries sectors,” Stephenson said. “Our global value proposition remains unchanged. We will continue to focus on the business of our partners, specializing in their markets and helping them sell more products and services with finance and leasing. That has been the key to our success for over 40 years and will continue to be for decades to come.”