Volkswagen, together with the British fund Attestor and the Dutch mobility platform Pon, had submitted a purchase offer of 2.5 billion euros for the rental company Europcar at the end of September. The consortium “got the go-ahead today” from the European Competition Authority for the offer to repurchase Europcar shares, according to a Volkswagen release.
The French Authority for the Financial Markets (AMF) therefore announced that it had fixed the closing of the offer for June 10, 2022 . The operation seems well underway, according to Volkswagen, which explains how the shareholders who own 68% of Europcar have already secured their support. Lthe German company would like to own 66% of the capital and voting rights of Europcar. Attestor and Pon will have respectively 27% and 7% of the shares. The holding company that brings them together which takes the name of Green Mobility is registered in Luxembourg.
Europcar is unlikely to join the Volkswagen group after the possible acquisition
However, Europcar is not expected to join the Volkswagen group, the partners said, reserving the right to examine the possibility of a merger. The Europcar headquarters should remain in Paris and the number of full-time employees in France should be maintained. This at least “for a period of twelve months from the date of completion of the offer”, the buyers specified in September.
For Volkswagen, the acquisition marks “the best starting point for launching a large mobility platform adapted to the evolution of consumer demand”, Group CEO Herbert Diess explained at the end of July.
The German manufacturer wants to entrust Europcar with the management of company car fleets and above all car sharing. It has long been considered an alternative source of income for producers. M.A recipe for profitability from this business is hard to find. But Volkswagen believes in it: “the combination with rental is probably the only way to take advantage of self-service mobility systems” Spiega Diess.
Some have already withdrawn from this market niche. BMW and Mercedes, for example, announced in early May the sale of their (loss-making) Share Now service to Stellantis.