Warburg Pincus commits $200m to China Auto Rental
Warburg Pincus has invested $200 million in China Auto Rental, said to be the country’s largest car rental network in terms of revenue. It is the largest equity financing the industry has seen since Legend Holdings made a RMB1 billion strategic investment in China Auto Rental two years ago.
The capital will be used to further strengthen the company's market leading position. According to consultancy Roland Berger, China Auto Rental is the only car rental network that covers all of the country's provinces and municipalities. As of June 30, it had nearly 600 service locations covering 66 cities and 52 major airports. The company's fleet of 32,000 vehicles is equal to the aggregate fleet size of the next nine largest car rental players.
David Li, managing director of Warburg Pincus, said the firm had been following China Auto Rental for a long time. "The company has a strong brand, customer base, shareholder base and management team. Warburg Pincus will bring additional support to China Auto Rental in terms of branding, funding, corporate governance and international resources," he said.
Li also credited Legend Capital, the investment arm of Legend Holdings, for identifying the potential of China's car rental industry and supporting the build-out of China Auto Rental's fleet and service network.
Warburg Pincus has $30 billion in assets under management globally. It first invested in China in 1994 and has since deployed more than $3 billion into companies including 7 Days Inn, AsiaInfo, Guangzhou R&F Properties, Harbin Pharmaceutical, Intime, Lepu Medical, RDA Microelectronics and China Red Star Macalline.
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