ARVAL has moved into the big league having signed a preliminary agreement with GE Capital to takeover its European fleet management activity.

Announced by BNP Paribas, this acquisition covers more than 160,000 vehicles in 12 European countries, significantly reinforcing Arval’s market position boosting its global vehicle count to around 900,000.

The deal is part of a global transaction in which Element Financial Corporation, Arval’s partner in North-America, has agreed to buy GE Capital Fleet Services’ businesses in the United States, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Through these deals, Arval and Element Financial significantly strengthen the Element-Arval Global Alliance’s reach to become a global leader with more than 3M vehicles in 40 countries.

Thierry Laborde, deputy chief operating officer of BNP Paribas and head of domestic markets, said: “For BNP Paribas Group, this acquisition will enhance the presence of our fleet management business on the European markets. This transaction further illustrates the Group’s active strategy to strengthen the leadership of its specialised activities in Europe.”

Philippe Bismut, CEO of Arval, added: “Arval will become the leader in full service leasing in Europe and I am sure that our clients will highly benefit from our geographical coverage, expertise and scale. We are also enthusiastic about this new cooperation with Element Financial and we are deeply convinced that this will bring value to both partners.”

The completion of the transaction is expected in the last quarter of 2015.