ECI eyes £150m sale of CarTrawler

Ellie Pullen
04 July 2013

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ECI Partners is preparing its Dublin-based portfolio company CarTrawler for a possible auction that could value the business at £150m, according to reports.

The possible exit comes less than three years after ECI acquired the company in 2011. According to Sky News, the GP is currently approaching investment bankers in the hope of hiring advisers for an auction of the company.

CarTrawler recently acquired Holiday Autos, a former portfolio company of ECI that was bought by the firm in 1995 for an undisclosed sum. ECI sold the company to lastminute.com in 2003 for £40m.

ECI acquired CarTrawler in May 2011 for €40-50m, according to unquote" data. The deal valued the company at up to €100m and ECI took a 50% stake in return for its investment.

CarTrawler is an online car rental company that acts as a link between online travel retailers, including hotels and airlines, and car rental agents, allowing the former to offer car rental via the company's technology. CarTrawler connects travel retailers to 800 car rental agencies across 30,000 locations in 174 countries.

The company is based in Dublin, with an additional office in Seattle. It employs 140 staff and reportedly generated revenues of £425m last year. Mike McGearty is the company's CEO.

Representatives of ECI were not yet available for comment.