Volkswagen in Talks to Acquire Europe's Largest Rental Car Company

Reflecting Changing Vehicle Usage Trends: Leasing or Renting Instead of Buying...

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Major foreign media outlets reported on the 27th (local time), citing sources, that a consortium led by the German automaker Volkswagen is negotiating the acquisition of Europcar, Europe's largest car rental company.

According to the reports, Europcar confirmed that it is negotiating over an acquisition offer of approximately 0.5 euros per share proposed by the Volkswagen consortium.

Although there is no guarantee that the acquisition will be finalized, sources said that a deal could be announced as early as the 28th.

Foreign media evaluated that the recent trend of vehicle usage shifting from purchasing new or used cars to leasing or renting served as the background for this acquisition push.

Headquartered in Paris, Europcar saw its sales plunge by 45% last year due to reduced travel demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic, recording a net loss of 645 million euros.

Previously, the Volkswagen consortium proposed to acquire Europcar at 0.44 euros per share at the end of last month, but hedge funds owning Europcar shares rejected the offer as too low, prompting the consortium to raise the acquisition price and reopen negotiations.

Currently, Europcar is owned by investment funds including Anchorage, King Street Capital, and Marathon.

Volkswagen previously owned Europcar but sold it to French financial investors for 3.3 billion euros in 2006.