Question
========

What is the basic business model for medical equipment leasing?


Background
==========

I am putting together a preliminary investment thesis for a phased
US$10m-US$25m investment in the medical equipment leasing market.

The investor would have a primarily financial role (but would prefer
to have a management say in the investment strategy).  The investor
has no specific experience in this market.

I know nothing about the industry and need some help gathering
thoughts and leads.


Specifics
=========

I am trying to answer the following specific questions.  Admittedly,
this is a multi-part question, but I expect that the information will
be in more or less the same location and won't require a lot of
incremental searching.

(1) What is the business concept? (Small funds, large funds or
agencies that manage individual investments)

(2) What is the typical (historical or estimated) return on equity?

(3) What kinds of equipment are leased? (MRI, CT, Ultrasonic Imaging,
surgical equipment, etc.)

(4) What are the investor requirements? (Domicile, institutional or
high net worth only, minimum investment size, etc.)


Deliverables
============

I am only expecting US$7.50 worth of work.

I just need to be sent in the right direction.  Although I would like
as complete an answer as possible, I need only a very brief answer
(3-4 lines each at most) to the above questions - plus links to
sources where I can dig around for myself.

I will accept a response that does not answer all sub-questions.


Grading
=======

Five stars for a complete answer that addresses all questions. Four
for a good, partial answer. Others ungraded.


Timescale
=========

There is no urgent deadline for this question.  An answer within a
week or so would suffice.


Further Work
============

I have further questions/clarifications that needn't be answered
within the scope of this question.  I am interested to know:

(5) Are these investments/ funds leveraged?

(6) If the investments are US-based, are there any special tax
considerations for an Asian investor?

(7) What are the underlying trends driving this industry?

(8) What would you recommend as a successful strategy for such an
investor?

Please indicate is you would like to answer any of these follow
questions/ clarifications and if so, how comprehensively you would be
able to answer them and time required for each one, considering that I
expect to pay a rate of US$20 per hour (after commission) for quality
research time.  I plan to settle these clarifications through the
tipping system.

Regards,

AsiaTechnicals-ga