— MMC announced in its Business Revitalization Plan on May 21, 2004 that it would review its captive finance business in the U.S. and on September 24, 2004, MMC finalized a Letter of Intent with Merrill Lynch. Since then, both the possible sale of existing assets and the structure for a new financial services business have been evaluated.
In an effort to improve MMC's financial standing by reducing assets and interest bearing debt, the Company decided to sell-off a portion of the assets of Mitsubishi Motors Credit of America, Inc. (MMCA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. 1). Outlined in the agreement includes selling to Merrill Lynch approximately $2 billion of the total $4 billion of MMCA assets such as lease and loan receivables.
From November 29, 2004, following the completion of procedures with related financial institutions, MMCA is planning to sequentially sell-off the aforementioned assets.
Furthermore, to provide competitive sales financing products to customers and dealers in the U.S., the establishment of a joint venture company to offer sales financing and servicing is being examined. An announcement will be made once further details are available.
1 Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. is responsible for manufacturing and sales in North America, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.
