INDUSTRIAL gas company BOC Group has agreed a £10.5 million sale and leaseback deal for its company car fleet with multi-marque contract hire firm Alphabet. The agreement saw the sale of 1,000 vehicles from the 1,400-strong fleet, with the remaining vehicles disposed of through current channels. Replacements were provided by Alphabet, to complete the takeover of the fleet.

A fleet management deal has also been awarded to the contract hire company. The management of the fleet had already been outsourced, but BOC Group is not naming the company which has lost the contract. The BOC Group fleet, based mainly in Guildford and Rotherham, is split between business need, benefit and executive cars.

The business need car fleet will be split between Ford Focus and Ford Mondeo 1.8-litre diesels and run on a one-year, 30,000-mile contract, as will benefit cars which drivers can choose from a list of Ford, Rover or Vauxhall models. Executive models will run on three-year replacement cycles and come from a choice list of Audi, BMW, Land Rover and Mercedes.