SET-listed motorcycle leasing company Group Lease Public Company Limited (GL) will significantly expand its business in Cambodia to cover the leasing of agricultural machineries under a cooperation agreement with SIAM KUBOTA Corporation Company Limited, the market leader in farm machineries.

The agreement, cemented in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), was signed today (Sept 5, 2013) by senior executives of the two companies led by GL chairman and chief executive Mr. Mitsuji Konoshita and SIAM KUBOTA president Mr. Hiroshi Kawakami. It effectively authorizes GL Finance (GLF), a wholly-owned subsidiary of GL that operates in Cambodia, to take over financing for the popular brand of Kubota farm machineries the bulk of which has been handled by Kubota dealers until now.

According to the MOU, the two parties have agreed that “the cooperative effort is in the best interest of the people (of Cambodia) as one of the objectives of this collaboration is to help in the improvement of their quality of life and standard of living.”

For GL, the latest pact with SIAM KUBOTA carries significant business growth potentials in Cambodia where it has started to run full steam on motorcycle leasing after a year of preparations and systems testing. “There is great opportunity to grow our business since there are good synergies between our own network of motorcycle dealerships and the well-established nationwide network of SIAM KUBOTA dealers,” GL’s Mr. Konoshita stated.

SIAM KUBOTA Corporation Co., Ltd, a joint venture between KUBOTA Corporation (Japan) and Thailand’s blue-chip SCG, has reported massive business growth in Cambodia with combined revenue rising more than 20-folds from a small base of 162 million baht in 2004 when it started operation to a projected 4 billion baht this year. Sales are forecast to jump further to 5 billion baht in 2015.

Mr. Konoshita stated that GL will utilize its expertise and experience in financial services to help SIAM KUBOTA further increase sales. “Cambodia is an agricultural-based economy and farm machineries are crucial to support its economic growth. Therefore, there are still plenty of growth potentials in the future,” he stated.

Mr.Hiroshi Kawakami, President of SIAM KUBOTA Corporation Co., Ltd. mentions that as the leader in Agricultural machinery provider in ASEAN, Siam Kubota has its oversea sales operations covering in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and other countries. In Cambodia, we have received good response and found that farmers are willing to use agricultural machinery to increase their production efficiency. Due to financial limitation, as a strong barrier, Siam Kubota put intention to create more alternatives and financial opportunities for farmers to easier own agricultural machinery. The company has signed MOU with Group Lease Public Company Limited (GL), the leading leasing firm who has been long commercialized in Cambodia and is authorized by National Bank of Cambodia as the first company to do leasing and hire purchase services in the country. Under the cooperation, GL would provide financial services through Siam Kubota dealers helping farmers increase opportunity to possess agricultural machineries.

In 2014, SIAM KUBOTA will establish a new company named “KUBOTA Cambodia Co., Ltd” in Phnom Penh to align to its business strategy and cope with the rapid growth of agricultural machinery application in Cambodia. The company plans to develop distribution network, marketing activities and after-sales service system with the target sales at 5,000 million baht by 2015.