"With the baby boomer generation moving into its 60s and 70s, the number one increase in spending is healthcare related. That tells us that healthcare will be stable and in fact, flourish," says Deighan. "A leasing company is going to be interested in medical-based companies because so much of the equipment is not only medically necessary, but it's also business necessary. Hospitals and imaging centers would go out of business without this equipment, and technology is changing so rapidly, not only the medical equipment but the computer hardware and software needed to run medical applications - what that means is that they will continue to lease year after year, which makes them ideal leasing customers. It doesn't matter if it's a hospital, an MRI center, an ambulatory surgical center, or a physician group. As long as they pass scrutiny as a business entity - their credit report looks good, they're paying their bills on time, and they don't have any business challenges, they have a very good chance of being approved for preferred rates from a leasing company."

Deighan has a vested interest in the health of leasing companies because he also owns a security brokerage company called Boogie Investment Group, Inc. As a broker and dealer of securities, Deighan has sought to invest in leasing companies.


"I constantly monitor how leasing companies are doing and we anticipate strong growth in the next five or so years."

Banks and OEMs playing it safe

OEMs are still very much in the financial picture because they need their equipment to sell, and are therefore "more forgiving" than banks, who take a hard line, says Dex Dean of Dex Dean Coastal Leasing, Inc., a national lender and leasing company.

"Major manufacturers like GE, Siemens and Toshiba all offer financing and they are very active and very competitive. In fact, they are beating out the banks because the banks are so conservative," says Edward G. Detwiler, senior appraiser of Edward G. Detwiler & Associates, an appraisal business involved in both leasing and lending. Detwiler works with manufacturers as well as large leasing companies and his assessments forecast end-of-term residual value of equipment and fair market value opinions for equipment buyouts.

"At this time, the OEMs tend to hold the largest market share due to their equipment knowledge and to their 'captive' nature," says Detwiler. "OEM financing companies tend to have the advantage of an equipment sales force ready to remarket their own equipment coming back from financing."

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