November 13 (SeeNews) - Romania's Romstal Leasing said on Tuesday it signed 4,883 contracts worth 172 million euro ($251.3 million) in the first ten months of the year, up 44% from the same period a year earlier, thanks to the Bucharest International Motor Show (SIAB) held in October.
"Participation in SIAB always gives Romstal Leasing the opportunity to increase its car financing portfolio," the company's marketing director Ionut Chirila said in a statement. "[In October] we doubled the value of the contracts from September when they totalled some 19 million euro," he added.
Romstal said it signed 1,030 contracts worth 39.7 million euro in October alone, up 127% from the same month a year earlier.
Passenger cars accounted for the greater part of the leasing contracts, 41%, followed by commercial vehicles with 27.5% and real estate deals with 6.3%, the company said.
Belgian banking and insurance group KBC acquired a majority stake in Romstal Leasing for 70 million euro at the end of last year.
Romstal Leasing has said it aims to increase its market share in Romania from 4.2% to 4.3% by the end of the year. The company ranks fifth among the country's leasing companies, according to the Association of Leasing Societies in Romania. It has 30 offices nationwide and plans to raise their number to 32 by end-2007.
($=0.6844 euro)