A consortium led by Volkswagen has agreed with Europcar to introduce a tender offer for the French car rental company that values it at 2.9 billion euros ($3.4 billion) including debt.
Volkswagen is proposing an offer price of 0.50 euro per share.
The German automaker has is working together with asset manager Attestor Limited and Dutch mobility group Pon Holdings BV for this deal.
This could be topped up by a 0.01 euro each share supplement if 90% of shareholders take up the bid, Europcar said.
It added that its board had recommended the offer.
With the offer, the automaker is betting on Europcar’s broad international network as a way to sell lucrative mobility services.
“The mobility market is changing rapidly as consumers increasingly demand new and innovative on-demand mobility solutions, such as subscription and sharing models to complement car ownership,” Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said.
“Europcar offers advanced fleet management capabilities as well as a broad network of stations at major airports, railway stations, and city locations and will help accelerate the automaker’s delivery of its ambitious mobility services targets.”
Europcar has over 3,500 rental stations across 140+ countries and a fleet of more than 350,000 vehicles in 2019, serving over 5 million customers annually.
