LiuGong Machinery Co is expanding its customer leasing and financing program to Europe after announcing a similar scheme in North America earlier this year.

LiuGong is partnering with France-based BNP Paribas Lease Group SA after the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, SINOSURE, helped bring the two parties together.

Executives from both companies signed the agreement at a conference in Paris this month.

The program will be administered by BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, one of the four firms in the BNP Paribas Lease Group.

BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions specialises in leasing solutions for construction equipment. It offers services ranging from lease financing to outsourcing, and includes flexible and long-term leasing.

Its parent company, BNP Paribas, was named the 2011 best bank in developed Europe by Global Finance magazine.

"When we announced the first phase of our global financing program in March, we knew we also wanted a strong partner in Europe," says LiuGong vice chairman and president Zeng Guang'an.

Zeng adds that BNP Paribas covers all the major LiuGong markets and has been extremely co-operative and enthusiastic about the partnership.

Through the agreement, LiuGong will offer a unified platform to provide financial leasing services to give customers more flexibility and more diversified financial products to meet their financing needs. The program also helps its dealers manage their cash flow more effectively, promoting easier investment into their dealership and product line.

The financial products include loans, financial lease/hire purchase, operating leases and full-service lease/contract hire, among other things.

Under the agreement, LiuGong is not liable for loss in a customer default and it does not participate in a risk pool, thus limiting financial exposure.

"Leasing is very common in the European market, so this alliance provides our current and any potential dealers' access to a strong, well-capitalised and highly rated financial firm for the financial products they need," Zeng says.

LiuGong Construction Machinery North America is partnering with De Laga Landen Financial Services to provide inventory finance options to its North American customers, and retail equipment finance solutions to their end-users. The program was announced at the 2011 ConExpo in Las Vegas in March.

LiuGong Machinery Corp, headquartered in Liuzhou, China, has produced construction equipment for more than 50 years. The firm employs over 13,000, including more than 750 R&D engineers, and produces more than 60,000 machinery units annually. It offers a full line of machines, including wheel loaders, bulldozers, backhoes, skid steers, forklifts, graders, excavators, rollers, truck-mounted and crawler cranes, and pavers.