In February, Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc. announced it would integrate three group companies in the United States on April 1, 2023: Mitsubishi HC Capital America, Inc., Mitsubishi HC Capital (U.S.A.) Inc., and ENGS Commercial Finance Co. Mitsubishi HC Capital America will be the remaining entity name. In addition, Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada, Inc. will remain a subsidiary of Mitsubishi HC Capital America. The announcement comes two years after the merger of Mitsubishi UFJ Lease and Finance Company and Hitachi Capital Corporation.

Craig Weinewuth, current President and CEO of ENGS Commercial Finance Co., has been named President and CEO of the newly integrated entity. Weinewuth is a commercial finance and leasing industry veteran who has held a wide range of executive positions at Fortune 500 and private equity backed equipment finance businesses.

Equipment Finance Advisor recently interviewed Weinewuth about the powerful combination the integration will create, and how ENGS’ digital expertise will play a big role for the integrated entity.

Equipment Finance Advisor: Please tell our readers about the company integrations.

Craig Weinewuth: Two years ago, Mitsubishi UFJ Lease and Finance and Hitachi Capital merged and became Mitsubishi HC Capital. As a result of the merger, there were three entities across the US: ENGS Commercial Finance, Mitsubishi HC Capital (U.S.A.) and Mitsubishi HC Capital America (formerly Hitachi Capital America) and its subsidiary, Hitachi Capital Canada. Our parent company reviewed its operations globally and decided specifically for the North American market to combine the three because they provide similar financing products, although to mostly different market sectors, and thus a lot of commonality and potential synergies. By creating one combined platform, we would have one cohesive go-to-market strategy throughout North America.

Equipment Finance Advisor:Was the plan from the start to integrate the firms?

Weinewuth: I think so. When Mitsubishi UFJ Lease and Finance acquired Hitachi Capital, they rebranded themselves globally as Mitsubishi HC Capital. They were a $56 billion-dollar global commercial finance company, and Hitachi Capital was a $34 billion global commercial finance company. When the two of those merged, they became a $90 billion global commercial finance company. Part of the value of that acquisition was to identify synergies and capabilities of the integrated company. We are not the only companies within the organization that are going through integration efforts. Other integrations are occurring across the globe as well.

Equipment Finance Advisor: What are some advantages of the integration of the companies?

Weinewuth: First, there’s a tremendous number of benefits that we see in combining the organizations. We do similar things but for two slightly different vendor and/or customer groups. We are going to be able to expand the overall capabilities of the organization and leverage the best practices from each entity in applying them throughout North America. We are going to utilize the different levels of automation throughout the overall business to streamline and make the business more efficient. Our service levels to our internal customers as well as our external customers should be significantly improved. Overall, we anticipate enhanced product offerings, expanded capabilities from an automation perspective, as well as synergies.

Equipment Finance Advisor: What are you personally most looking forward to when the April 1 integration takes place.

Weinewuth: There’s a tremendous amount of effort that goes into any sort of integration. We’ve had different levels of task forces preparing for the April 1 integration for many months. There’s been a significant amount of energy and effort that’s gone into ensuring that it’s successful, and everything’s going very well. We’ve been very conscious of the impact to our customers, vendors, and dealers, and we have made a concerted effort to make the transition as seamless as possible. I’m also extremely proud of the work our employees have done both individually and collaboratively. We’ve come together in so many ways already as one company.

Some of the synergies I identified–expanding the products and capabilities of the organization, expanding the reach of the business across all of North America–it’s going to be exciting to see that take shape as the integration launches. In addition, our parent company has identified the North American market as one of their primary growth areas. Not only will we create a tremendous amount of growth opportunities just through the integration, but as we continue to expand and invest in the market, we should be able to scale the business much more rapidly as an integrated platform.

Equipment Finance Advisor: ENGS created digital solutions that offer improved and streamlined customer experiences and greater back-end efficiencies. Will this model be replicated companywide as part of this integration?

Weinewuth: Yes, absolutely. That is one of the big wins from the integration. Propel is a proprietary digital offering that ENGS developed. It’s been received very favorably by our customers and our vendor partners. We will take this offering and provide those same capabilities throughout all of North America and to all of our vendor partners and customers. There are a significant number of opportunities that we see throughout the business and we will be leveraging our best practices and then applying them on a unified basis throughout the entire North American footprint.

Equipment Finance Advisor: That finishes my questions. Is there any other area you wanted to discuss?

Weinewuth: I would like to share how this integration is going to differentiate ourselves from competition in the market. As an integrated organization, we are going to be sitting at just about $6.5 billion of assets across North America. We believe that to be the largest non-bank, non-captive commercial finance platform throughout North America. And as the largest lender in the space, I think it will create opportunities to secure, hopefully, the top-tier vendors in the market. A lot of our vendor partners have cross-border capabilities and we are able to provide solutions to vendors and customers both in the U.S. and Canada.

In addition, we have equipment lending and ABL lending. We have a wide range of product offerings that I think will distinguish ourselves from the market. And as I mentioned earlier, our parent company has identified the North American market as one of their number one target areas to expand the business. We have a very strong parent company that wants to invest more in the U.S. and we will sit in a very attractive position as an integrated company. I think that will create opportunity for us, both from the ability to capture vendors and customers as well as secure top talent in the organization or top talent throughout the industry as we continue to grow and expand.