DLL Group provides the agricultural industry with financial solutions for a range of machinery, inputs and diverse assets – setting itself apart from its competitors
As a subsidiary of Rabobank, DLL has been providing financial solutions for more than 50 years across more than 25 countries.
The company has an asset portfolio worth over A$65 billion, cementing itself as a significant global asset finance partner.
DLL has been serving the Australian and New Zealand market for over two decades across various industries, including Food, Agriculture, Healthcare, Clean Technology, Construction, Transportation, Industrial, Document Imaging and Technology industries.
Its food and agriculture business unit is key to DLL as it encompasses over 55 vendor relationships, in Australia alone.
Food and agriculture
DLL’s core work is in vendor finance, where it partners with equipment manufacturers or distributors to provide finance solutions to their end customers.
“We’re quite a large business but historically, our go to market strategy has been in conjunction or in partnership with a lot of our distributors and manufacturers of equipment via private label or undisclosed programs,” Asia Pacific food and agriculture regional sales manager Scott Bremner says.
DLL provides the capital to finance both new and used agricultural assets, whether it be a tractor, harvester, baler or other farm machinery.
“If it’s got a serial number there, we will always support the farmer and the dealer network to fund it,” DLL food and agriculture country sales manager Brett Coates says.
DLL can also assist with inventory finance for equipment manufacturers and dealers. From the moment inventory hits Australian shores, DLL can help through to retail and placing that stock at a branch or dealership.
Not only does DLL finance new inventory, but it can also provide funding for the business end user too if there’s an opportunity for the asset to be sold second-hand.
“If there’s any second life or used opportunity, whether it be a commercial private sale or dealer, we can provide funding for that as well,” Coates says.
DLL creates an opportunity for manufacturers where they don’t have to own and manage their own captive finance arm.
Bigger original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can run their own finance arms as they don’t have to raise their own form of capital.
“These bigger OEMs don’t have the cost and compliance that comes with the finance arm, and the collections that come with having your own portfolio as well,” Coates says.
With farm machinery prices increasing tremendously in recent years, another benefit of DLL is the option to rent instead of owning.
“Historically it hasn’t been a popular financial product for farmers, however for the larger farming operations it is now becoming an attractive alternative,” Coates says.
Funding machinery is indeed a big focus, but DLL also has vendor partners in inputs and livestock – creating a diverse asset portfolio.
Diversity
Setting itself apart from the competition is what DLL strives for, looking at providing financial solutions in a range of different ways.
“We’ve got a really strong appetite to continue to support the agricultural sector, whether that is through finance of core agricultural assets or new emerging technologies that more farmers are investigating. DLL takes a holistic view when it comes to the solutions that we’re building with our dealers and rolling out into their customer network,” Bremner says.
DLL also has a key focus on sustainability that Bremner believes is driving the business forward.
“We have historically financed a lot of carbon intensive assets and we’re very conscious of that. A significant part of our strategy is identifying new sustainable solutions and emerging technologies and helping our customers access these through competitive financial solutions,” he says.
Having deeper conversations with clients, Bremner says the business has seen an increase in the need for and interest in sustainable solutions, including farm solar, precision agriculture robots, bio digesters and waste management systems on farms.
This allows DLL to provide more diverse financial solutions rather than just providing funding for a tractor, as an example.
“DLL is committed to partner for a better world and therefore we are always looking at developing solutions with our partners that have a focus on sustainability,” Bremner says.
“We expect that by providing financial solutions on these new assets, or via second hand sales and the circular economy, our farming customers can access the technology that will assist with helping reduce carbon emissions and waste.
“That’s what sets us apart from our competition, we’ve got a strong credit appetite for the agricultural sector and we’ve been working with these customers for over 50 years. We finance deep and we buy long.”
Bremner emphasises that the business is here to help the industry and with DLL planning on attending many industry events this year, the group is looking to raise awareness across the industry of its capabilities.
Industry events
Spanning from April 17-19, DLL will be an exhibitor at the FutureAg expo held at the Melbourne Showgrounds in Victoria.
Born out of Agritechnica in Europe, FutureAg will provide DLL with an opportunity to gain more brand exposure and remind the market that it is here to help.
“As a big supporter of Agritechnica, we’re really happy to be partnering up and supporting them with their FutureAg launch in Melbourne,” Coates says.
Attendees will be able to visit DLL at booth number 250, but if you happen to miss out there will be plenty of other events that the financial solutions company will be at.
“We’ll be attending most of the traditional agricultural field days, partnering with our vendor partners,” Coates says.
“Recently we have attended Wimmera field days in Horsham, Victoria, as well as Farm World in Warragul – also in Victoria. It’s the typical regional field days that we’ll be going to.”
For more information on DLL’s financial solutions, visit dllgroup.com/au/en-au or call +61 2 9113 5000.