Europcar Mobility Group, a major player in mobility services, announces the acquisition[1] of Europcar Finland and Europcar Norway

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 (N°1 in Finland and N°3 in Norway) with customer bases covering both leisure travelers and the corporate market. The combined revenue of the two businesses was approximately €56m in 2018.

In Finland, Europcar is the undisputed 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.

For 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. Both of us are entrepreneurs and we want to bring this entrepreneurial spirit to the development plans and to Europcar Mobility Group. With this new opportunity, we see possibilities to also share our best practices and get the most of the Group’s expertise”.

[1] These acquisitions are subject to customary conditions precedent, and are expected to close in Q2 2019.