The car leasing arm of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has completed its acquisition of Diamond IGB Inc. in a move seen to push its fleet past the 8,000 mark and meet the growing demand for vehicle rentals.

BPI Tokyo Century Rental Corp. (BPITCR), a joint venture between Japanese lease financing group Tokyo Century Corp. and BPI, said in a statement on Friday that it had likewise acquired Diamond’s two group companies—Diamond Fleet Solutions Inc. and Buenaflor Car Services Inc.—to form Brilliant Car Rental Corp.

The new firm “will begin operations as a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPITCR,” and take over the business of Diamond to offer short- and long-term car leasing, according to Tokyo Century Group. Clients may also opt for packages with drivers who can help them navigate.

Japanese-managed

Tokyo Century in 2014 acquired 49 percent of then BPI Leasing Corp. to form BPI Century Tokyo Lease and Finance Corp. and BPITCR.

The Japan-based group later increased its equity stake to 51 percent and became the majority shareholder.

“We will continue to expand our auto business in the Philippines through BPITCR,” Tokyo Century said.

The companies first announced the acquisition of 46-year-old Diamond in March last year, aiming to boost BPITCR’s fleet by at least 1,000 units to 8,500 after seeing a strong demand for car rental services among big companies.

Seeing that these large firms do not see a need to spend hundreds of thousands just to purchase company cars, BPITCR president Satoshi Matsuo previously said they were more inclined to just rent cars.

Buenaflor family-led Diamond, headquartered in Parañaque City, was established in 1978. Apart from car rental services, it also offers maintenance and repair, business process outsourcing fleet management and 24-hour service.

It allows clients to book a service for P999 to P5,000 per day, depending on the vehicle type. INQ