Opinion

ALD acquires LeasePlan: Tim & Tex’s excellent adventure

One week after the official announcement that ALD will acquire LeasePlan, we had the opportunity to sit down virtually with the CEOs of both companies. 

The least you can say is that our exclusive interview with Tex Gunning, CEO of LeasePlan, and Tim Albertsen, CEO of ALD, is relaxed, informal, personable. 

No wonder: over the course of their negotiations, Tim and Tex must have had innumerable meetings like this one, and have gotten to know each other quite well. While the ALD CEO is in the driver’s seat, that doesn’t mean his LeasePlan counterpart isn’t enjoying the ride: together, they will be building a mobility company with the size and scope to transform the very industry it operates in. Tim and Tex have an excellent adventure ahead. 

Some highlights from the interview:

  • The new company will not be called “NewALD”.
  • A common target for the combined entity will be set for electrification.
  • ALD could use LeasePlan’s privileged remarketing channel, CarNext, to pursue used-car leasing opportunities.
  • LeasePlan’s NGDA digital back office could be rolled out across the entire new entity.
  • Until the deal closes, LeasePlan and ALD will remain competitors.

Who’s who?

Tim Torben Albertsen (b. 1963) is Danish. He holds degrees in Business Administration from the University of South Denmark and from Copenhagen Business School. Following a five-year stint at Avis Denmark, first as Operations Manager Rental, then as General Manager Leasing, he became General Manager for Hertz Lease Denmark in 1997. The company was acquired by ALD in 2003, after which Albertsen rose from a regional directorship to become ALD’s Senior VP in 2005 and its COO in 2008. From 2011, he served as ALD’s Deputy CEO, taking over as CEO from Mike Masterson at the start of 2020. In that role, he will preside over the integration of LeasePlan over the coming months and years. 
 

Louis Willem (“Tex”) Gunning (b. 1950) is Dutch. He holds a degree in Economics from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has 25 years’ experience in executive roles at Unilever, lastly as Business Group President in Asia. As CEO of recruitment company Vedior, he oversaw its acquisition by Randstad in 2008. That year, he became Managing Director of Decorative Paints at AkzoNobel, overseeing the integration of ICI into his company. In 2013, he was appointed CEO of TNT Express, guiding its merger wih FedEx. From 2016, he has been CEO of LeasePlan, overseeing the growth and sale of CarNext, its online remarketing subsidiary, and most recently, the announced acquisition by ALD of LeasePlan itself.
 

Pictures' sources: Tim Albertsen at Fleet Europe Summit 2021, Brussels and Tex Gunning at Fleet Europe Summit 2018, Barcelona
 

Authored by: Steven Schoefs