OREANDA-NEWS. GE Capital’s Commercial Distribution Finance (CDF) business announced today that it has extended its relationship with the American Boat Builders Association (ABA), a major buying group for independent boat builders in the U.S.

GE Capital has been a preferred lender to ABA’s members since the organization’s inception in 1992.

“GE Capital has been far more than a lender to our members,” said Jay Patton, its president. “Over the years, this relationship has also brought tremendous value through their Access GE program, which shares insights that help our members run their businesses. We look forward to GE Capital’s continued engagement.”

The ABA’s board of directors has extended the agreement designating GE Capital a preferred inventory financing provider to its members through model year 2016. Those members, and their brands, are as follows:

Chaparral Boats, Inc.,
Cobalt Boats, LLC,
Grady White Boats, Inc.,
Nautic Global Group, Inc. (Rinker, Hurricane, Sanpan, Sweetwater, Aquapatio, PolarKraft, Partikraft),
Nautique Boat Co.,
Porter, Inc. (Formula, Thunderbird),
Regal Marine Industries, Inc.,
Robalo Boats, LLC,
Seabring Marine Industries, Inc. (Monterey),
S2 Yachts, Inc. (Tiara, Pursuit), and
Stingray Boat Co.
“We highly value our relationship with the ABA and we’re thrilled to continue to be a preferred lender,” said Bruce Van Wagoner, president of CDF’s Marine Group. “We’ll continue to share knowledge and industry data through our dedicated team of experts as well as programs like Access GE to help with their continued success.”

For more than 50 years and through all business and economic cycles, CDF has offered customer-centric floorplan financing programs that enable marine dealers to stock a broad selection of new and pre-owned products. Floorplan financing, also known as inventory financing, is an important element of a successful manufacturer-dealer business model as manufacturers and distributors benefit from enhanced product flow and increased sales opportunities, and dealers obtain improved terms and credit availability.