CAR Inc. Sets For Privatization And Will Delist on July 8

MBK Partners has completed the compulsory acquisition of CAR Inc., which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of MBK.

On the evening of July 5, Indigo Glamour Company Limited (affiliated to MBK) and CAR issued a joint announcement that all remaining shares of CAR had been transferred to MBK.

According to the Listing Rules, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Ltd. has agreed for CAR to withdraw its listing. CAR will be privatized and delisted as of 9:00 a.m. on July 8th.

Established in September 2007, CAR is dedicated to providing customers with superior car rental services including short- and long-term rentals and in addition to financial leasing. The company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September 2014 and raised about HK $3.6 billion at that time. By the end of September 2020, CAR owned a total of 149,000 registered vehicles, ranking first among the Internet car rental platforms.

CAR Shenzhou Rent-a-Car has faced a disastrous year as business dropped off a cliff due to the pandemic in early 2020, then a further plunge in share price as the company was implicated by the Luckin Coffee incident, and then ended with multiple acquisition bids by several investors.

In November 2020, Indigo Glamour began to acquire CAR. On July 5, 2021, CAR announced that Indigo Glamour had completed the compulsory acquisition of the holders of its remaining offer shares, and CAR had submitted an application for delisting to SEHK.

Information shows that MBK Partners, L.P., established in 2005, is one of the largest private equity funds in Asia, with a management capital of more than $24 billion US dollars.

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MBK focuses on investing in the Asian market, prioritizing consumption and retail, telecommunications and media, medical and health care, financial services, manufacturing, infrastructure and logistics, education and other fields.

The company’s leading market position in China was the main driver behind this acquisition. The acquisition conveys MBK’s confidence in the Chinese travel market, which should see domestic demand pick up as the economy recovers.