VW wants to get involved in the car sharing and car rental market in the future - the car company is aiming for a takeover of Europcar. The EU Commission has given the green light, so now there is little in the way. Only the Europcar shareholders have to give their approval.
The EU Commission has given a consortium led by Volkswagen the green light to take over the car rental company Europcar. This means that the last condition precedent of the takeover offer has been met, VW announced. The Europcar shareholders now have until June 10 to accept the offer. If not enough shareholders decide to take this step, the deadline can be extended by a further ten days. VW wants to take over more than 90 percent of Europcar. If this threshold is exceeded, the offer price will increase by one cent to 51 cents per share, it said.
Together with the asset manager Attestor and the Dutch mobility provider Pon Holdings, VW is offering 2.9 billion euros for the car rental. So far, the consortium has secured 68 percent of Europcar. The responsible VW board member Christian Dahlheim said that the company favors the squeezeout, "but it is not mandatory". Even with the 68 percent, VW can make all business decisions in the consortium. At the same time he announced investments. "We assume that several hundred million will have to be invested to bring the infrastructure up to date." However, these would have to be invested from Europcar's cash flow.
Europcar is set to become the leading mobility provider as a platform for car rental, ride-sharing services and car-sharing. Competitors are the car rental company Sixt and the mobility services of the Now Group, which have since been sold to Stellantis. VW sees a strategic advantage in the combination of car rental and other mobility services.
