FRANCE - Eurazeo to acquire Europcar from Volkswagen

Eurazeo has entered into exclusive negotiations with Volkswagen AG to acquire Europcar. The private equity house has fought off competition in two rounds of the auction run by Citigroup. Europcar is the European leader in hire cars and counts more than 2,900 agencies in more than 145 countries. The group has a staff of around 5,300 and a turnover of EUR 128bn. Headquartered in Paris, it has a fleet in excess of 220,000 vehicles, with around 7 million contracts registered in 2005.