Europcar Makes Norwegian, Finnish Acquisitions

Europcar Mobility Group has completed the acquisition of Europcar Finland and Europcar Norway. This single transaction marks the fourth and fifth national franchises acquired by the Group and extends its corporate network from 18 to 20 countries.

The companies are acquired from Matti and Jussi Holopainen, who will remain with the business.

Both businesses hold strong positions in their respective national markets, with customer bases covering both leisure travelers and the corporate market. The combined revenue of the two businesses was approximately 56 million euros ($63.5 million) in 2018.

In Finland, Europcar is a 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 an average fleet of 3 000 vehicles cars and vans. The business has a very strong service culture and is well positioned to benefit from the growing tourist market in Finland along with a number of important infrastructure projects.

In Norway the business has been recovering since its purchase by the Holopainens in 2014. Through a mixture of investment in new systems, station upgrades and a program of acquiring domestic sub-franchisees in Norway, the business has returned to profitability and expects strong top and bottom line growth.

As is usually the case when acquiring a franchisee, there are significant potential synergies to be extracted, particularly in fleet purchasing and fleet financing, as well as more medium term savings opportunities in back office functions across the Nordic region.

The businesses will also benefit from the Group’s assets and expertise in e-commerce in order to boost their performance in that area and to support their development plans through the mobility services offered by Europcar Mobility Group to their customers.