26 fév 19
Fil d'Actus

Europcar acquires franchisees in the Nordics

Mobility business specialist Europcar Mobility Group has announced the acquisition of its franchise operations Europcar Finland and Europcar Norway. This deal will extend Europcar’s corporate network from 18 to 20 countries. The acquisitions are still subject to customary conditions precedent, but are expected to close in Q2 2019.

In Finland, Europcar is the market leader with a 31% market share. The business has a network of 56 branches throughout the country, located in cities and at all the major airports, and operates a fleet of around 3,000 vehicles cars and LCVs. In Norway the Europcar business has been recovering since its purchase by the Holopainen family in 2014. The company expects strong top and bottom line growth for the future. The combined revenue of the two businesses was approximately €56m in 2018.

Synergies
With the acquisition, Europcar Mobility Group expects synergies in fleet purchasing and fleet financing, as well as more medium term savings opportunities in back office functions across the Nordic region. <

Olivier Baldassari, Chief Countries and Operations Officer of Europcar Mobility Group: "We are delighted to welcome Europcar Finland and Europcar Norway with Jussi and Matti Holopainen into the Group. These two new corporate countries are profiled to support the growth of Europcar Mobility Group in Northern Europe. These acquisitions will fit nicely into our Leverage and Scale Up strategic framework, expanding our services into new countries, while leveraging on our core assets and achieving synergies”.

Jussi and Matti Holopainen commented: "We are happy to become part of the Europcar Mobility Group and believe this will offer us a strong competitive advantage to continue our growth in Finland and Norway".

Copyright picture: Europcar

Authored by: Steven Schoefs