Reuters has reported that Europcar will buy rival Goldcar in a €550 million deal, increasing the French car rental business’s exposure to the low-cost holiday rental market.
Goldcar is Europe’s largest low-cost provider, with a fleet of 50,000 vehicles across 87 locations including Spain, Portugal and Italy.
Europcar has already acquired Milan-based car sharing company GuidaMi, Europcar Denmark and Buchbinder in Germany in pursuit of its goal of reaching annual sales of more than €3 billion and an underlying Ebitda margin of 14% by the end of 2020.
Caroline Parot, chief executive of Europcar said: “We are well-placed to have completed the bulk of our 2020 ambition in terms of acquisitions.”
Europcar shares rose as much as 4.6% to a record high of €12.60 on Monday, according to Reuters.
In 2016, Goldcar generated full-year revenue of €240 million and an adjusted corporate Ebitda of some €48 million.
