IPO could value France’s Europcar up to €2bn

French car rental group Europcar’s IPO will value the group at €1.7 to €2 billion, the company said on Monday.

Europcar said in a statement it will price its initial public offering in a range between €11.50 and €15 per share, hoping to raise at least €854.5 million.

About €475 million of that will come from new shares and about €379.5 million from 33 million shares sold by investment fund Eurazeo, which owns 87 per cent of Europcar.

"Our target is to have a free-float of about 50 per cent," Europcar chief executive Philippe Germond told reporters on a telephone conference.

Finance director Caroline Parot said she expected the company would have a market capitalisation of €1.7 to €2 billion, depending on the IPO price.

Mr Germond said the IPO proceeds will be used mainly to repay the company’s debt. Following these refinancing operations, there will be about €112 million left for general corporate purposes, he said.

He added that, of that amount, up to €80 million will go towards financial investments, including acquisitions and partnerships as part of the company’s 2015-17 strategy plan.

The offer will close on June 24th, the price will be fixed on June 25th, and trading will start on June 30th, the company said.

The offer also features a greenshoe option to sell more existing shares, up to 15 per cent of the original offer size.

Reuters