Eurazeo's Europcar buys Scandinavian franchises

The transaction marks the fourth and fifth national franchises acquired by the group and extends its corporate network from 18 to 20 countries.

The companies are acquired from Matti Holopainen and Jussi Holopainen.

Eurazeo has been an investor in EMG since 2006, when it reached an agreement with Volkswagen to wholly acquire the business for €3.08bn.

EMG partially listed on Euronext Paris with an offering price set at €12.25 per share in 2015. EMG raised approximately €475m through the offering of new shares and €404m through the sale of existing shares by the selling shareholders, including €349m by Eurazeo. 

Two years later, the GP partially exited its holdings in Europcar, selling 14,084,332 EMG shares. The disposal generated value of €179m and a multiple of about 1.7x for Eurazeo on its investment. 

Eurazeo currently owns 30.6% of EMG, according to the GP's website.

Headquartered in Paris and founded in 1949, Europcar is a car rental firm listed on Euronext Paris. It is active in 135 countries (including 16 wholly owned subsidiaries in Europe, and two in Australia and New Zealand). The business generated revenues of €2.41bn in 2017, according to Eurazeo's website.  

As is common with franchisee acquisitions, the merger should result in significant synergies. The businesses will also benefit from the group's assets and expertise in e-commerce. 

Company
Both Finnish and Norwegian franchises hold strong positions in their respective national markets with customer bases covering both leisure travelers and the corporate market. The combined revenue of the two businesses was approximately €56m in 2018.

In Finland, Europcar has a network of 56 branches throughout the country, located in cities and at all the major airports, and operates an average fleet of 3,000 cars and vans.

In Norway, the business has been recovering since its purchase by the Holopainens in 2014. Through a mixture of investment in new systems, station upgrades and a programme of acquiring domestic sub-franchisees in Norway, the business has returned to profitability, according to a statement. 

People
Europcar Mobility Group – Olivier Baldassari (chief countries and operations officer).  
Europcar Finnish and Norwegian franchises – Jussi Holopainen (managing director); Matti Holopainen (chairman).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• France
• Consumer
• France
• Eurazeo