GlobeNewswire
Bilia has today concluded an agreement to acquire an authorized Porsche dealer who conducts sales and service operations for Porsche cars at two facilities in southern Sweden, Porsche Center Malmö and Porsche Center Helsingborg. The acquisition includes the properties where the business is conducted. The agreement is subject to approval by the Swedish competition authority. The business that is expected to be acquired, Ferdinand Holding AB, with associated operations and two real estate companies, reported for 2020 a turnover of about SEK 980 M and an operating profit of approximately SEK 60 M. The number of employees is about 40. Current owners, Gustav Lundh, Lars-Bertil Rantzow and Johan Persson, will continue to work in the company and run the business further after the change of ownership. The operation’s capital employed and agreed surplus values amount to about SEK 320 M. The takeover of the two real estate companies is made at a value of about SEK 130 M. The Bilia Group’s capital employed and net debt is estimated to increase, related to the acquisition, by about SEK 450 M. About 10 per cent of the purchase price will consist of own Bilia shares which will be valued to the average share price on Nasdaq ten days before paying the purchase price. Bilia currently holds 4,481,210 own shares. Bilia is expecting to take over the operations on 3 May 2021. Per Avander, Bilia’s Managing Director and CEO, comments:”I’m very happy to see Bilia in the future cooperate with the brand Porsche. Together with Porsche Sweden we will continue their successful growth journey and see opportunities for future expansion. We are already jointly evaluating further concrete business potential in the local area. We and Porsche Sweden have a consensus on the importance of a high customer satisfaction and professional advice on current and future sales. Furthermore, we are both happy and grateful that the current owners will continue to work with us at Bilia and share their experience and knowledge concerning Porsche. Thanks to this acquisition, in the future Bilia can offer customers an additional car brand in southern Sweden.” Gustav Lundh, Managing Director and current owner, comments:”We are proud and happy to have Bilia as new owner, as they attach great importance to both staff and customer satisfaction and is a company that shares our important core values. Bilia has great experience in the corporate market and has shown good results concerning the increasingly growing and important service market business, where our two Porsche Centers will have great benefit from Bilia’s experience and knowledge. We three owners will of course remain in the same roles in the company and will together with our employees and customers further develop the Porsche business in Skåne to the next level, and with Bilia’s support we have the best conditions to succeed! Raine Wermelin, Managing Director Porsche Sverige AB, comments:”From Porsche Sweden we look forward to working with Bilia, to continue to develop the Porsche business in both Malmö and Helsingborg. We see in this business exciting opportunities, where the good local customer relations and for Porsche specific experiences, can now be combined with the experience and competence Bilia has in areas such as service market and business sales.Porsche Sweden would like to thank Gustav Lundh, Lars-Bertil Rantzow and Johan Persson for dedicated and successful entrepreneurship in the Porsche business. We are grateful that this cooperation can continue, even if partly in new forms.” Gothenburg, February 26, 2021 Bilia AB (publ) For information please contact: Per Avander, Managing Director and CEO, +46 (0)10 497 70 00, per.avander@bilia.se Kristina Franzén, CFO, +46 (0)10 497 73 40, kristina.franzen@bilia.se This is information that Bilia AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, on February 26, 2021, at 08:30 CET. Facts about the Bilia Group Bilia is one of Europe’s largest car dealers with a leading position within service and sales of cars and transport vehicles. Bilia has about 140 facilities in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium. Bilia sells cars of the brand Volvo, BMW, Toyota, Renault, Lexus, MINI, Dacia, Alpine and transport vehicles of the brand Renault, Toyota and Dacia. Bilia offers new and used cars, e-commerce, spare parts and store sales, service and repair workshops, tyres and car glass and financing, insurance, car washes, fuel stations and car dismantling under the same roof, which gives a unique customer offer. Bilia reported a turnover of about SEK 30 bn in 2020 and had about 4,700 employees. Attachment Bilia expands the number of brands through acquisitions of Porsche Center Malmö and Porsche Center Helsingborg
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