Meet the CEO
Having spent the past twenty plus years in the leasing and asset finance sector, I have seen first-hand how asset finance and equipment leasing has helped business leaders acquire those assets they need to invest into the future growth of their company.
Humble beginnings at Wyse Leasing
Aged 24, I founded Wyse Leasing in 1989. Operating initially alone and out of an office no bigger than a broom cupboard. I built one of the UK’s largest and most respected computer leasing finance companies. During those twenty years to 2009, we completed over 20,000 lease agreements for in excess of 12,000 companies with a team at its height of 75 people working out of seven regional offices. Even today after my business partners and I have sold Wyse Leasing, it is still a name that is well known and highly respected in leasing.
My co-shareholder and I sold the Northern business of Wyse Leasing in 2006. Re-named, Bluestone Leasing Limited, and operating out of new offices in Wakefield, we still enjoy a close link with our old team and directors. In 2009, being the majority shareholder in the southern operation of Wyse Leasing, I instigated the sale of the business to CHG-Meridian, a German IT leasing company who transact over 700 million euro of lease origination per year. With offices around the world, CHG-Meridian are a well respected and highly successful leasing company focusing in the computer sector. We now are proud to place some of our leasing business directly with them.
Foundations at WestWon
Success, respect and financial rewards are driving us forward to replicate our achievements we have had in the past with WestWon. (Wyse Established Second Time – the “Won” aspect relating to what we wish the final result to be.) We are driving this business in a different direction to Wyse Leasing, namely we finance a much wider range of assets, computer and software leasing making up a very small part of our portfolio. Most of our customer and supplier relationships have come from acquisitions made over the last five years, our biggest being the purchase of Power Leasing Limited, one of the UK’s longest established leasing companies. Strategically, this is where we see the significant growth over the next few years.
I am proud of our team at WestWon. They are loyal, hardworking, fun to be with and respect the importance of our customer and supplier relationships. We intend to grow our team but will still maintain the culture we have developed. I hope that as you deal with us, you will see this culture shine through and warm to it.
The Credit Crunch, the Recession, banks not lending and all things negative!
In October 2008, I personally witnessed one of the toughest months in all my time working. Within the space of two hours one morning, hot on the heels of Lehman crashing, we lost three banking relationships. All three funders had pulled out of leasing completely or implemented a policy not to deal directly with intermediaries such as ourselves. Many other established names in our sector closed their doors or changed underwriting policy to reflect a new norm of lending. Customers shelved purchasing decisions and suppliers reacted by reducing their workforce. It was not lost on us that we were in for a tough time.
Three years later, new funders have entered the market, our finance company partners are lending, and we are implementing a strategy for growth. I disagree when we hear that banks are not lending, we and the funders we work with are keen to lend. Our funders appreciate that you or any other customer may have some negative history in the balance sheet over the last few years but ultimately, your business is sound.
So please, if you are a customer wishing to buy items of capital equipment or a supplier needing a business partner, call us today, our doors are firmly open for business.
