Fleetondemand, one of Europe’s leading mobility technology providers, has acquired Buckinghamshire-based vehicle management company FleetEurope for an undisclosed sum.
The significant deal was funded by Fleetondemand’s current long-term investment partner BGF, which acquired a minority stake in the technology business following a £5 million investment last year. BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor, has committed more than £2 billion in over 285 growing businesses since it was set up in 2011.
This latest acquisition will see Fleetondemand accelerate the growth of its Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions within the vehicle rental sector, through the provision of its market leading Mobilleo application to FleetEurope’s long-established, blue-chip client base.
The combined business will create a powerful suite of MaaS technology solutions and services for UK and international businesses, in addition to consolidating its existing supplier partnerships with the UK’s major vehicle rental companies, and a wide range of local, regional and specialist rental suppliers.
Customers will benefit from combined access to the UK’s largest vehicle rental fleet of over 600,000 vehicles from 2,200 branch locations nationwide, using the latest version of Fleetondemand’s vehicle rental platform. The award-winning system currently manages 320,000 rental transactions a year from 19,000 individual users.
The combined business will be led by an experienced executive board, including Fleetondemand’s chief executive officer Justin Whitston, non-executive chairman Andrew Cope, chief financial officer Nicola Sharp, operations director Matthew Heald and FleetEurope’s chief operating officer Joe Howick.
FleetEurope’s current chairman and founder, John Yarroll, will be retiring after 25 years of successfully managing and growing the business.
Justin Whitston commented: “Bringing the two businesses together was an easy decision in our aggressive growth plan. FleetEurope has been a key business partner since 2012 and has gone from strength to strength in recent years under the guidance of Joe Howick and his experienced management team.
“Both businesses also share very similar core business philosophies and cultures and are renowned for delivering best-in-class customer service and market-leading technology. This acquisition made perfect sense, allowing us to strengthen our existing partnership and fuel our ambitious growth plans.”
Joe Howick added: “This new partnership with Fleetondemand is an extremely positive move that will enhance our existing service offering to customers. We’re experiencing a growth in demand for an all-encompassing mobility solution that allows customers to book various modes of transport, in addition to vehicle rental.
“Our customers will now have access to Mobilleo, Fleetondemand’s revolutionary MaaS technology platform that consolidates all forms of business travel into a single application, including car rental, flights, trains, ferries, taxis, car clubs, hotels, airport lounges and more.
“We’re extremely excited about this new partnership. Maintaining our reputation for delivering outstanding service is our top priority, so It will be very much a case of business as usual for our customers as we bring the two businesses together.”
Chris Boyes and John Eggleston, who led the investment for BGF, added: “FleetEurope is a well-established player within the fleet sector that has shown unprecedented growth over the last three years. This impressive performance, combined with its experienced management team, broad range of long-standing clients and its reputation for service excellence were influential in our decision to invest in the business.”
Financial due diligence and corporate finance advice was given to Fleetondemand by KPMG, whilst Resolution Partners provided corporate finance advice to FleetEurope. Legal advice was given by Freeths (Fleetondemand), Gateley (BGF) and Osborne Clarke (FleetEurope).
