What is Leaseback?

Key Takeaways

  • Leaseback refers to a reverse fiscal transaction wherein the company sells its assets and takes a lease on the same from the purchaser. The key elements of Leaseback are the need for capital or those with excess capital looking for good investments, strong tenants, and even high-interest rates.Leaseback has several pros, such as it improves the company’s balance sheet by avoiding debt transactions, reduces tax liability because lease payments are tax-deductible, and saves time and administrative costs.Leaseback transactions also have disadvantages, such as the company not getting the benefit of appreciation, the seller losing control over the asset over time and the sale of assets reducing the company’s valuation.

Reasons for Sale/Leaseback Transaction

  • Lessee or Seller Perspective: The seller (lesseeLesseeA Lessee, also called a Tenant, is an individual (or entity) who rents the land or property (generally immovable) from a lessor (property owner) under a legal lease agreement. read more) wants to free the cash in the property or assets for other purposes but still wants to use such assets or property.The Lessor or Buyer Perspective: Generally, purchasers (institutional investorsInstitutional InvestorsInstitutional investors are entities that pool money from a variety of investors and individuals to create a large sum that is then handed to investment managers who invest it in a variety of assets, shares, and securities. Banks, NBFCs, mutual funds, pension funds, and hedge funds are all examples.read more) involved in these transactions are finance companies, leasing companies, or institutional investorsInstitutional InvestorsInstitutional investors are entities that pool money from a variety of investors and individuals to create a large sum that is then handed to investment managers who invest it in a variety of assets, shares, and securities. Banks, NBFCs, mutual funds, pension funds, and hedge funds are all examples.read more looking for a good investment with a good return.

Key Elements of Leaseback Transaction

The following are critical elements of leaseback.

  • Need of Capital: When a company needs capital for future investments, it will go for leaseback transactions.Excess Capital and Looking for Good Investments: Purchasers or lessors enter this transaction only to make a good return on their investment.Strong Tenant: Investors who buy and give on lease want a relatively more robust tenant who can meet their obligations and safeguard the investments. Similarly, a strong tenant can sell their assets at a higher rate and profit from the transaction.Long Term Lease: Generally, in sale and leaseback transactions, lease terms are of 10 years or more to benefit the lessor and lessee. The lessee will benefit from using the assets uninterrupted, and the lessor will get the lease rent for a more extended period without risk.Triple Net Lease: This is one of the conditions the lessor wants to include in the sale and leaseback agreement. In a triple net leaseTriple Net LeaseTriple Net Lease is a type of lease agreement in which the lessee (tenant) agrees to also pay for other property-related expenses such as insurance of the building, maintenance of the building, property taxes in addition to the rent.read more, the lessee takes responsibility for incurring operating expensesOperating ExpensesOperating expense (OPEX) is the cost incurred in the normal course of business and does not include expenses directly related to product manufacturing or service delivery. Therefore, they are readily available in the income statement and help to determine the net profit.read more, maintenance costs, insurance costs, and other costs, just like the owner of the assets. The investor will only enjoy the rental income unbothered.High Interest on Loans: If the rate of interest of the loan is higher than the lease rental expenses, companies can opt for this to reduce the costs.

Example of Sale and Leaseback Transaction

Now we will understand sale & leaseback transactions with the help of a practical example:

A few years ago, airline companies used this arrangement to control planes’ costs and operating expenses. It came from immense pressure to reduce the ticket price to capture the market and competition.

Therefore, they bought planes, sold them to the leasing companies, and immediately took them back on lease. With that arrangement, airline companies started getting cash-free and spread the cost over the plane’s life. They utilize the cash generated from the sale of planes to meet the operational costs and reduce the liabilities.

You are free to use this image on you website, templates, etc., Please provide us with an attribution linkHow to Provide Attribution?Article Link to be HyperlinkedFor eg:Source: Leaseback (wallstreetmojo.com)

Advantages

  • The seller can avoid the capital cost associated with assets and still use those assets.It can save the time and administrative cost associated with the assets as they will be taken care of by the purchaser or lessor.Reduce tax liability because lease paymentsLease PaymentsLease payments are the payments where the lessee under the lease agreement has to pay monthly fixed rental for using the asset to the lessor. The ownership of such an asset is generally taken back by the owner after the lease term expiration.read more are tax-deductible expenses.Reduce the overall income of an organization.Improve the company’s balance sheetThe Balance SheetA balance sheet is one of the financial statements of a company that presents the shareholders’ equity, liabilities, and assets of the company at a specific point in time. It is based on the accounting equation that states that the sum of the total liabilities and the owner’s capital equals the total assets of the company.read more by avoiding debt by this transaction and increase the current assetsCurrent AssetsCurrent assets refer to those short-term assets which can be efficiently utilized for business operations, sold for immediate cash or liquidated within a year. It comprises inventory, cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, accounts receivable, etc.read more generated through selling assets in cash.Improve working capitalWorking CapitalWorking capital is the amount available to a company for day-to-day expenses. It’s a measure of a company’s liquidity, efficiency, and financial health, and it’s calculated using a simple formula: “current assets (accounts receivables, cash, inventories of unfinished goods and raw materials) MINUS current liabilities (accounts payable, debt due in one year)“read more by investing in other things or for day-to-day operating expenses.

Disadvantages

  • If the property has a longer life, it will become a costly affair for the seller because the total lease payment will be more than the cost of the assets over the year.The company will not benefit from depreciationBenefit From DepreciationDepreciation is a systematic allocation method used to account for the costs of any physical or tangible asset throughout its useful life. Its value indicates how much of an asset’s worth has been utilized. Depreciation enables companies to generate revenue from their assets while only charging a fraction of the cost of the asset in use each year.
  • read more since they do not own the property.The seller would not get the appreciation benefit if the value of assets sold, like land and building, increases in the future.The sale of assets will reduce the company’s valuation, making it useful for a future loan.Loss of control over assets as lease rent will increase at the time of renewal of the agreement.

Conclusion

A sale & Leaseback transaction is only an arrangement for reducing capital expenditureThe Capital ExpenditureCapex or Capital Expenditure is the expense of the company’s total purchases of assets during a given period determined by adding the net increase in factory, property, equipment, and depreciation expense during a fiscal year.read more without compromising the availability of assets. Organizations with a cash balance shortage and unable to meet day-to-day operating expenses or companies in their initial phase and focusing on business expansion use this type of transaction to unclog their capital assets and use that cash elsewhere.

On the other side, investors enter into this arrangement because they want a good return on their investment. In addition, they feel secure because of the long lease term and are also relieved from all responsibility by mentioning the triple net lease clause in the agreement.

The principal tax benefit of a qualified sale leaseback is the complete deductibility of the rent payments made under the lease. Borrowers who finance their homes using conventional mortgages can only deduct interest and depreciation.

In a botched sale and Leaseback, the seller-lessee does not derecognize the underlying asset; instead, it keeps depreciating it as though it were the actual owner.

To provide ample investor time to realize their intended return on investment, the typical lease period for sale-leaseback transactions is from 5 to 10 years.

A business can sell an asset to raise money and subsequently lease it back from the buyer using a sale leaseback arrangement. A corporation can acquire both the cash and the asset it needs to run its business in this manner.

This has been a guide to what it is called Leaseback and its meaning. Here we discuss an example of a sale and leaseback transaction along with its advantages & disadvantages. You can learn more about financing from the following articles –

  • What is a Finance Lease?Lease RateLease OptionCapital Lease Definition