Three months after receiving a loan guaranteed by the State of 220 million euros, in addition to a classic loan of 80 million euros, the Europcar group is unable to get its head out of the water .
Monday evening, the vehicle rental company, which employs 12,000 people worldwide, announced that it was initiating
"discussions with a view to carrying out financial restructuring"
.
Majority-owned by Eurazeo (29.9%), which announced in the spring of its intention to withdraw, and by banks and investment funds, Europcar will call on an agent or a conciliator to conduct the restructuring of its debt of 1.25 billion euros at June 30.
Some creditors could convert part of their debt into capital on this occasion.
Return to pre-Covid levels will be very slow
The management of Europcar
In Bercy, the Interministerial Committee for Industrial Restructuring (Ciri) has been monitoring the Europcar file for several months.
He stepped up discussions with banks and helped Europcar to review its “business plan”.
But the travel and tourism market has not recovered as quickly as the managers of the lessor had hoped.
In the first half of the year, Europcar saw its turnover fall by 43% compared to last year, to 815 million euros.
Its net loss amounted to 286 million euros during this period.
“The return to pre-Covid levels will be very slow,”
believes Europcar management.
The lessor will accelerate its Connect 2021-2023 transformation plan, which notably plans to digitize services, and ensures that it will thus be able to meet customer expectations in the future.
It's about holding on until then.
