(AOF) – It’s done. The European Commission has cleared the acquisition of Europcar Mobility Group by Green Mobility Holding, a consortium comprising car manufacturer Volkswagen, asset manager Attestor Limited and mobility products and services provider Pon Holdings BV. The closing date for the initial period of the public tender offer has been set by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) for 10 June.
As a reminder, the offer is made at a price of 0.50 euros per share (dividends included), increased by a potential additional price of 0.01 euro per share if the threshold of 90% of the capital and vote allowing a squeeze-out from Europcar Mobility Group is reached at the end of the offer or the reopened offer.
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key points
– Third worldwide in vehicle rental, with 27% market share, created in 1949 and operating under the Europcar, Goldcar InterRent and Ubeeq brands for new mobility;
– Turnover of €2.3 billion, split evenly between 3 divisions, leisure, professional use and new mobility;
– Strong presence in 140 countries, with strong positioning in 9 of them – Germany, Australia, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal and the United Kingdom, and franchise networks elsewhere;
– Business model based on the visibility of turnover through partnerships with transport and tourism groups, providing 1/3 of revenue, then through the strategy of integrating franchisees and, finally, diversification into new mobility;
– Capital nearly 75% controlled by investment funds, with Alexandre de Juniac chairing the 9-member board and Caroline Parot being general manager;
– Cleaned up balance sheet with debt reduced to €240m, ie a leverage effect of 1.3, compared to €1.6bn in equity.
Challenges
– Connect strategy to offer flexible, sustainable, digital and connected mobility solutions;
– “Fast Lane” innovation strategy: rise of digital in revenues (76%), ahead of agencies (14%) and call centers / mobility services through acquisitions or long-term partnerships term / voluntarism with the “Lab”;
– Environmental strategy with 2030 objectives: aiming to reduce its direct CO2 emissions by 46.2%, vs 2019, and its absolute emissions by 27.5% / focused on the electrification of the fleet (20% in 2024) and the circular economy / validated by the launch of 3 green loans;
– Confirmation of the increase in the utilization rate of the fleet, of 74.5% in 2021;
– Continuation of the Reboot plan for structural gains after the return to net profitability in 2021.
Challenges
– Sensitivity to air transport, more than 40% of turnover being achieved in agencies located in airports and seasonal nature of the activity, 9/10ths of the gross operating surplus being generated during the 2
th
and 3
th
quarters;
– Questions about a delisting after the friendly takeover bid at a unit price of €0.50 by the German Green Mobility, of the Volkswagen group, and the Attestor and Pon Holdings funds, which should be closed on the 2
th
trimester ;
– Absence of quantified targets due to the shortage of vehicles, due to difficulties in supplying semi-conductors to automobile manufacturers, leading to a risk of a substantial increase in the cost base.
Lowered targets
Due to shortages, manufacturers’ assembly lines must sometimes stop, affecting the activity of equipment manufacturers, who supply them with just-in-time flows. Added to this is the jump in the price of raw materials and energy, deteriorating margins. Several equipment manufacturers, including Plastic Omnium and Forvia (formerly Faurecia), had thus lowered their outlook for 2021.