Aramis Group - Finalization of the acquisition of Onlinecars
PRESS RELEASE
Arcueil, October 5, 2022
Finalization of the acquisition of Onlinecars,
the Austrian market leader for refurbished vehicle sales
Aramis Group [Ticker: ARAMI – ISIN: FR0014003U94], European leader for B2C online used car sales, operating the Aramisauto, Cardoen, Clicars and CarSupermarket brands in France, Belgium, Spain and the UK respectively, is announcing today that it has finalized its acquisition of Onlinecars in Austria.
In June this year, Aramis Group announced that it had made a commitment, subject to minor conditions precedent, particularly concerning antitrust aspects, to acquire all of the capital of Onlinecars (). As the conditions precedent had been cleared, the two companies were able to complete their business combination.
Nicolas Chartier and Guillaume Paoli, co-founders1 of Aramis Group: “We are delighted to officially welcome all the teams from Onlinecars to the Aramis Group family. We are counting on Peter Marolin, Onlinecars’ founder, its co-director Thomas Lang and their teams to continue creating more value for Austrian consumers, while accelerating their profitable growth with the Group’s support. By extending its presence to Austria, Aramis Group continues to expand in Europe to ensure the satisfaction of a growing number of customers and is taking a further step towards achieving its ambition to become Europe’s preferred platform for buying used cars online”.
As with the Group’s previous acquisitions, the integration of Onlinecars will generate extensive operational synergies and open up opportunities to share experience. In particular, Aramis Group will enable Onlinecars to benefit from its industrial flow management and refurbishing process optimization expertise, as well as its know-how and the tools from its technological and data platform. Alongside this, Onlinecars will help consolidate the major network of suppliers and brands built up by Aramis Group, which represents one of its many competitive advantages.
From an accounting perspective, Onlinecars will be consolidated by Aramis Group from October 1, 2022, and will therefore contribute over a full year to the company’s performance for FY 2022-23, running from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. With this operation, the new combined structure will have pro forma full-year revenues of close to €2 billion.
With this accretive acquisition for Aramis Group, €27.2 million will be paid out immediately, followed by an earnout based on the performance for the 2024 calendar year. These two elements give a purchase price for Onlinecars with multiples that are close to Aramis Group’s previous acquisitions and consistent with the market levels currently observed taking into consideration the company’s profitability (EBITDA margin over 3%).
For reference, this operation is financed entirely by Stellantis, Aramis Group's majority shareholder, which is fully committed to accompanying and supporting its international strategic expansion. Aramis Group also took the opportunity offered by this operation to secure its financing structure. In the current context, the €200 million revolving credit facility (RCF) was canceled. A new credit line was made available by Stellantis and others were renewed. These fixed-rate lines, set up at levels reflecting Stellantis’ financing conditions, without any covenants and repayable at maturity after four and five years, offer a major competitive advantage for Aramis Group in terms of its balance sheet structure. As of September 30, 2022, Aramis Group has €255 million of credit lines that can be used without any conditions, with €66 million drawn down (including financing for Onlinecars).
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About Aramis Group
Aramis Group is the European leader for B2C online used car sales. The Group has five brands: Aramisauto, Cardoen, Clicars, CarSupermarket and Onlinecars, in France, Belgium, Spain, the UK and Austria, respectively.
A strong growth group, an e-commerce expert and a vehicle refurbishing pioneer, Aramis Group takes action each day for more sustainable mobility with an offering that is part of the circular economy. Founded in 2001, it has been revolutionizing its market for over 20 years, focused on ensuring the satisfaction of its customers and harnessing digital technology and employee engagement to help create value for all its stakeholders.
With annual revenues of nearly €2 billion, Aramis Group sells more than 80,000 vehicles B2C and welcomes more than 80 million visitors across all its digital platforms each year. The Group employs around 2,300 people and has seven industrial-scale refurbishing sites throughout Europe. Aramis Group is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment A (Ticker: ARAMI – ISIN: FR0014003U94). For more information, visit .
Disclaimer
Certain information included in this press release is not historical data but forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions about current and future business strategies and the environment in which Aramis Group operates, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results or performance, or the results or other events, to be materially different from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include those discussed or identified in Chapter 3 “Risk Factors” of the Universal Registration Document dated January 26, 2022, approved by the AMF under number R. 22-004 and available on the Group’s website () and on the AMF website (-france.org), and specifically those identified in sections 3.1.1 “Risks related to general economic conditions and their trend”, 3.1.2 “Risks relating to trends in the automotive industry”, 3.2.1 “Risks related to the procurement of used cars” and 3.2.2 “Risks related to price changes on the used cars market”. These forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. This press release does not contain or constitute an offer of securities or an invitation or inducement to invest in securities in France, the United States or any other jurisdiction.
Investors contact
Alexandre Leroy
Head of Investor Relations
+33 (0)6 58 80 50 24
Press contacts
Brunswick
Hugues Boëton +33 (0)6 79 99 27 15
Alexia Gachet +33 (0)6 33 06 55 93
1 Nicolas Chartier is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and Guillaume Paoli is Deputy Chief Executive Officer, based on a two-year rotation
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