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FRANCE - Eurazeo to acquire Europcar from Volkswagen

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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.

Eurazeo has already acquired European lorry hire giant Fraikin, from Fiat in January 2003. The private equity house provided the lead equity of EUR 175m in the acquisition, which amounted to EUR 805m. The deal comprised two thirds debt and one third equity, with Eurazeo providing the lead equity of EUR 175m. Pragma Capital and UI contributed a combined sum of EUR 75m.

Fraikin bought the commercial fleet division of UK transport logistics company Lex Transfleet at the end of last year. The latter has 5,500 vehicles and is a joint venture owned by RAC and Lombard North Central. Majority owned by Eurazeo, the Fraikin Group has an annual turnover of EUR 575m and operates a fleet of more than 34,000 vans and trucks across Belgium, France, Luxemburg, Spain and the UK. The Royal Bank of Scotland provided debt financing for the deal.

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