For Volkswagen, one of the world’s leading automakers and a leader in the transition to the zero-emissions future of mobility, the transaction with Europcar, a major provider of mobility services including vehicle hire and car sharing, provides a compelling opportunity to create a leading mobility platform. The consortium aims to effect a successful transformation of Europcar and deliver new and innovative mobility solutions to meet growing customer demand for services complementing car ownership, whilst managing the business with a balanced governance structure and leveraging the strengths of each consortium partner. Though Volkswagen will have a majority shareholding in the joint holding company, it will neither control the consortium nor Europcar.
The proposed transaction was approved by the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG in an extraordinary meeting today. In an agreement with Europcar, the consortium has committed to make a recommended tender offer of €0.50 for all outstanding shares of Europcar Mobility Group SA with an increase of the offer price to €0.51 if more than 90% of the share capital and voting rights are transferred following the tender offer. The offer price represents a 27% premium to the closing price of Europcar on Euronext Paris on June 22, 2021, of €0.39, which was the last day before the consortium’s approach to Europcar became public and implies an enterprise value of €2.9bn.
The takeover offer will be subject, in addition to the mandatory expectance threshold of 50.1%, to a minimum acceptance threshold of 67% and the consortium has already received irrevocable commitments from existing Europcar shareholders representing 68% of the outstanding shares to accept the takeover offer including 12.8% already held by Attestor. The transaction is subject to approval by the French Stock Market Authority (AMF) and relevant antitrust authorities. The offer is expected to be filed with the AMF by the end of the third quarter 2021 and is expected to be completed in the course of the fourth quarter 2021 or first quarter 2022.
Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess: “The mobility market is changing rapidly as customers increasingly demand new and innovative on-demand mobility solutions, such as subscription and sharing models to complement car ownership. That is why we made building a leading mobility platform a key priority of our recently announced NEW AUTO strategy through 2030. Europcar provides advanced fleet management capabilities as well as a broad network of stations at major airports, railway stations and city locations and will help accelerate Volkswagen’s delivery of its ambitious mobility services targets. Together with our consortium partners Attestor and Pon, we will support the development and transformation of Europcar’s business and selectively add further services from Volkswagen Group brands.”
Jan-Christoph Peters, founder and owner of Attestor: “With its strong market position, Europcar has the potential to become a leading platform for individual mobility concepts in Europe. As one of its largest shareholders, we already supported the recently completed financial restructuring of the Europcar Mobility Group. Alongside Volkswagen and Pon, we are now taking the next step helping the business to develop into a sustainably successful and innovative company positioned to lead in the fast-growing mobility sector.”
Janus Smalbraak, CEO of Pon Holdings: “Since our transformation to an international mobility group, we have experienced the power of multi-offering of mobility to customers, whether it entails cars, bikes, scooters or other mobility services. We strongly believe in the potential of operating one integrated platform, in which flexible mobility services will be a key element. We are pleased to be part of the consortium, being able to contribute to the creation of this new Volkswagen mobility platform, with Europcar as a strong basis. This new step further strengthens the long and close relationship between Volkswagen and Pon.”
Clear plan to transform Europcar into a leading mobility platform
To successfully transform Europcar’s business over the next years, the consortium fully leverages its collaborative approach. Volkswagen will have a majority shareholding in the consortium’s joint holding company set up for the transaction, Green Mobility Holding S.A. (“Green Mobility Holding”). However, to ensure a balanced governance structure and to leverage the strengths of each consortium partner, Volkswagen will not control Green Mobility Holding and thus neither Green Mobility Holding nor Europcar will be consolidated into Volkswagen Group. All transactions with Green Mobility Holding and Europcar will be on an “arms’ length” basis.
With this structure, Volkswagen will be able to leverage the strong transformation capabilities of Attestor as well as the international mobility services and customer experience of Pon for a successful transformation of Europcar. “Through partnering with relevant industry experts, we will increase speed on our way to transform Volkswagen Group into a globally leading mobility tech company,” Herbert Diess says.
In compliance with French regulation, a summary of certain key terms of the agreement governing the consortium, which has been disclosed to institutional investors of Europcar that have committed to tender their shares to the offer, will be made available in the coming days on Volkswagen AG’s website.