A vision becomes business reality

Entrepreneurs are visionaries. In 1978, Wolfgang Grenke realised that there was a market for leasing general office technology that was completely untapped. This prompted him to found the GRENKE company in Baden-Baden. It was the beginning of a success story with many exciting chapters to follow.


In the first year, he and two employees partnered with 21 specialist reseller partners and managed 198 leasing contracts. It was clear to him that leasing IT and office equipment – “small ticket” items with a relative low purchase price – was a niche market with huge potential.


In 1990, GRENKE was one of the first leasing companies to establish a business in the former East Berlin. Over the next six years, an additional eight branches followed in Germany and the establishment of the first operation outside Germany – in Austria. GRENKE now also serves customers in Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and Italy.


GRENKE was converted to a public limited company in December 1997, and was traded on the stock market for the first time in April 2000. Since March 2003, GRENKELEASING AG has been listed on the SDAX exchange. Throughout these developments, the organisation has remained true to its original philosophy and strategic concept.


The company’s long-term rating is BBB+ with a stable outlook and a short-term rating of A2. This has remained unchanged since 2003. It underlines the stability of our business model and the sustainable success of our strategy.