A specialist corporate finance house for the businesses that build things.

GAF German Asset Finance GmbH finances the equipment, receivables and working capital that keep operating businesses moving. Since 2023 we have written more than € 4 billion of facilities across 22 European jurisdictions — always with a real underwriter on the other end of the phone.

Who we are

A single relationship, the full toolkit of asset finance.

GAF German Asset Finance GmbH is a regulated, independent corporate finance provider headquartered in Düsseldorf. We combine the discipline of a bank credit committee with the pace and structuring flexibility of a specialist lender.

Our clients are typically SME and mid-market operating businesses — from family-owned manufacturers with fifty years of trading behind them to fast-scaling logistics and technology firms in their first growth cycle. What they share is a preference for finance partners who understand their sector, respond in days, and stay for the long term.

We are authorised and regulated by BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) (Reg. no. BaFin-ID: 10160885 Bak Nr.: 160885 ) and hold ISO 27001 certification for information security. All client funds are held in fully-segregated trust accounts.

Legal name: GAF German Asset Finance GmbH
Established: 2023
Head office: Düsseldorf, Deutschland
Regulator: BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht)
Reg. number: BaFin-ID: 10160885 Bak Nr.: 160885
VAT number: DE367103331

Our story

Built by operators, run by underwriters.

From a founding team of former equipment lessors and factoring underwriters to a multi-country finance house — the through-line has always been the same: understand the asset first, price the risk second.

2023

Founded in Düsseldorf

GAF German Asset Finance GmbH is established by a founding team of five, with initial focus on mid-ticket equipment leasing for regional manufacturers. Registered with BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) under BaFin-ID: 10160885 Bak Nr.: 160885 .

+2 years

Factoring desk opens

Launch of the receivables-finance desk, initially serving domestic factoring lines and extending to recourse export factoring within the same year. First cross-border mandate signed with a logistics operator.

+4 years

ISO 27001 & portal launch

Client portal goes live, enabling real-time exposure monitoring, invoice submission and drawdown tracking. Achieves ISO 27001 certification for information security.

+5 years

€ 1B milestone

Cumulative facilities placed pass the € 1B mark. Opening of second office and expansion of the asset-based lending team to service larger, more complex working-capital mandates.

+6 years

Cross-border framework

Rollout of master framework agreements enabling straight-through documentation across 22 European jurisdictions. Trade & supply-chain finance product launched.

Today

€ 4.2B placed & growing

1,800+ active client relationships, 14 sectors, a renewal rate of 96%. The business remains privately held and independently governed — with the same discipline that defined its first mandate.

By the numbers

A track record measured in outcomes, not press releases.

€ 4.2BFacilities placed

Cumulative gross written since inception across all product lines.

1,800+Active clients

Operating businesses served across manufacturing, logistics and beyond.

22Jurisdictions

Cross-border documentation under a single master framework.

96%Renewal rate

Client facilities renewed or expanded within twelve months of maturity.

3.5 wksTime to fund

Enquiry to first drawdown across straight-through mandates.

24 hrFactoring turnaround

From verified invoice submission to cleared advance in the client account.

14Sectors covered

From industrial manufacturing to healthcare, technology and retail.

0.31%Loss ratio

Net credit loss as a percentage of average facility exposure — 3-year.

Our mission

To make specialist finance as accessible as a bank loan and as flexible as a private-credit fund — giving operating businesses the working capital and asset finance they need to grow, without the paperwork tax.

Values that shape how we underwrite.

Asset first

We price to the strength of the underlying asset or contract — not to a one-size credit algorithm. Every deal is read by a human being.

Real timelines

Indicative terms in days. Credit committee weekly. Drawdown within three weeks of documented enquiry — the standard, not the exception.

Transparent pricing

Reference rates and arrangement fees published up-front. No trailing costs, no reserve gymnastics, no interest-holiday clawbacks.

Long relationships

Renewal is not a sales event — it is the outcome of doing the first facility well. Ninety-six percent of clients agree.

Sector fluency

Underwriters who have run plants, dispatched fleets, and closed inventory books. Sector fluency means fewer questions and better structures.

Prudent capital

Diversified funding lines, matched tenors and conservative advance rates. The reason we can commit even when markets tighten.

Leadership

A senior team with combined decades in asset finance.

The people who set our credit policy have written it before — at some of Europe's most respected bank-owned leasing houses, factoring providers and specialty lenders.

A. Marchetti

Chief Executive

Twenty-two years in specialist finance, formerly head of European leasing at a top-five bank.

K. Jansen

Chief Credit Officer

Career underwriter with deep expertise in industrial equipment and receivables portfolios.

S. Petrov

Head of Factoring

Built and ran a domestic factoring platform before joining. Focused on cross-border programmes.

E. Lindqvist

Chief Risk Officer

Former central-bank supervisor. Chairs the credit committee and the group risk framework.

R. Diallo

Head of Origination

Leads the client-facing team of relationship directors and sector specialists.

M. Hoffmann

Chief Financial Officer

Oversees the group's funding lines, treasury and regulatory capital position.

T. Nakamura

General Counsel

Structures our master framework agreements and cross-border legal opinions.

C. Vasquez

Chief Operating Officer

Runs the operations, portal engineering and client-service functions across the group.

Governance & compliance

Regulated, audited and independently governed.

We operate to bank-equivalent governance standards without the constraints of a universal-banking mandate. Independent directors chair the audit and risk committees; external audit is refreshed on a five-year rotation.

Regulated by BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht)Registration BaFin-ID: 10160885 Bak Nr.: 160885 · full permissions for regulated finance activities.
ISO 27001 certifiedIndependently audited information-security management. Client data handled per certified controls.
Segregated client accountsAll client monies held in trust with a tier-one custodian, ringfenced from group operating capital.
Big-Four external auditAnnual financial and regulatory audit by a top-tier accountancy firm.
GDPR-compliant data handlingFull DPO function, DPAs available, documented sub-processor register.