It seems to me that the financing differences between the 2 continents make the difference. With Hire purchase, the company gets to depreciate the machine as they pay for it. With lease purchase, the payments are deducted in full with no depreciation. Depreciation starts after the lease ends, therefore, with HP. there's no tax advantage to keep the unit after your done paying for it. With a lease purchase. a company can still depreciate the unit down for a couple of years- delaying the purchase of a new machine.