Posted Apr 11, 2022, 6:34 PM
It’s the end of the Ucar adventure as an independent company. The local car rental company founded by Jean-Claude Puerto will be taken over by Cosmobilis, a group born at the end of 2021 with the ambition of offering automotive mobility in all its forms, and in which Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance has invested 100 million euros. euros.
A premium of 238%
The two parties said in a press release published on Monday that Jean-Claude Puerto would bring Cosmobilis 67% of the capital of Ucar, for a price of 59.15 euros per share. This represents a 238% premium to the closing price last Thursday, before trading was suspended. Jean-Claude Puerto will be paid partly in Cosmobilis shares, in which he will hold 6% of the capital.
A takeover bid for the entire capital of Ucar will follow. The main shareholders, who hold 22% of the capital, have already indicated that they would respond favorably to this offer.
Ucar, very active under white label
Founded in 2000, Ucar has developed into local rental, under its own colors or as a white label for dealers. After to have been shaken like the whole sector by the confinements of 2020, Ucar restored its accounts last year, with a net result of 370,000 euros for 67 million business volumes, 437 branches and a fleet of 8,000 vehicles. The company had nevertheless made it known that the difficulties in recovering new cars would handicap its activity in 2022.
Despite its modest size, Ucar enjoyed a certain notoriety thanks to the energy of its founder, who constantly sought to innovate in the use of the car, and had notably written the book “#Partage ta car! » (Editions Exiles). Jean-Claude Puerto had created Ucar2share, which offered to reduce the cost of access to a new vehicle by putting it in car-sharing when it is not in use.
For its part, Cosmobilis confirms its ambitions. The holding company notably owns the network of 83 car dealerships under the ByMyCar brand, but it also owns the VTC Marcel service, the online driving school En Voiture Simone, and the long-term rental operator Fleetway, to companies. The potential synergies therefore seem numerous, and Cosmobilis will be able to rely in particular on the local network formed by Ucar agencies and franchisees.