Big news in the leasing & finance world and it impacts this community also as GE Capital is one of the largest finance companies in the Office Imaging space.
As I was reading Tom Callinan's article in ENX/This Week in Imaging, I started thinking about what this means for my world - will we have less competition or will the new buyer invest and grow the business. I have friends that work at GE Capital and it has to have put them into a tough spot. They need to get up every day and go out sell dealers on all of the reasons you should be using GE Capital, all the while, having very little certainty on the future of the company and their professional future with the company. It may be a tough few years for these folks.
Dealers - what are your thoughts? How is this going to affect you decisions? Are you preparing for a rate increase, are you looking for additional leasing providers, are you sticking with GE.
While I don't have a crystal ball, I have been doing this for quite a while and have some ideas. Banks/private equity are flush with cash right now and they need to do something with that money. The GE Capital franchise in the office imaging space is a market leader. I fully believe that a buyer will purchase this group with the intent on being in this market. As usual, some changes will take place on policies, people, but as a whole, I see this group surviving, just under another name (remember Tokai, MasterLease, Sanwa, Aloha, McDonnell Douglas, Greentree, American Express)