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Press releases

2007-05-18Europcar announces the signing for the purchase of the car rental company Betacar.

Europcar has announced today the purchase of 100% of the leading car rental group in the Balearic and Canary Islands Betacar, which has been for more than 25 years the Europcar franchisee in the area.

Betacar opened its first office in the islands in 1965 experiencing a rapid growth which has made it one of the longest established companies in its markets, in both Balearic and Canary islands.

Today, Betacar is present with more than 100 locations in Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca, Formentera and each of the Canary Islands.

In 2006, the activity represents more than 1.5 million rental days, with a turnover of 44.7M€ and an average fleet of over 8,000 vehicles.

Salvatore Catania, Europcar Groupe Chief Executive Officer declared: "the acquisition of our long standing franchisee Betacar is another step to contribute to our active development strategy and further consolidate our European leadership. The acquisition of Betacar will further participate to the objectives of revenue growth, improved profitability and strengthening of our international network at the very core of the group's future strategy."

José María López Brocos, General Manager of Europcar Ib. and Managing Director of Europcar Portugal, assured that "with this acquisition, Europcar consolidates itself as the major car rental company in Spain in turnover, office network and fleet, confirming the strategic development of Europcar with the objective to become the number 1 car and van rental company in every country where Europcar is present".

ABOUT EUROPCAR

Owned by the French investment company Eurazeo, Europcar is the European leader in passenger car and light utility vehicle rentals. Since March 2007 with the acquisition of Vanguard EMEA, its network comprises over 5,300 rental outlets in 160 countries. With a fleet of over 241,000 vehicles and almost 10 million rental contracts signed in 2006, Europcar provides its services to its clients (business and private) throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. Including Vanguard EMEA, Europcar has a workforce of close to 9,000 employees.

Investor Relations

Europcar Groupe

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e-mail: noackg@mail.europcar.com

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