By Emma-Victoria Farr and Andres Gonzalez
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LONDON -German online car dealer MeinAuto is preparing to put itself up for sale after being forced to scrap plans for a stock market listing last year amid an industry downturn, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
The company's owner, private equity firm Hg, is considering selling to another private equity fund as part of a review of strategic options for the business, the sources told Reuters.
Hg aims to get up to 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion) in a sale, according to two of the sources, a figure that would fall short of the implied valuation from last May's aborted listing of between 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion euros.
Hg and MeinAuto declined to comment.
MeinAuto accounts for around 2% of new vehicle sales in Germany, placing a likely sale price in the range of between 500 million and 1 billion euros, according to one source.
The group generates around 38 million euros in core earnings, with revenues of between 200 and 250 million euros, three sources said.
The company's decision to ditch its flotation was influenced by the poor trading performance of its rival Auto1, which has seen it shares sink 70% since their market debut in Frankfurt last February at a 7.9 billion euro valuation.
MeinAuto had viewed Auto1 as its key indicator of how it might fare publicly and the sell-off, combined with tough industry conditions, dampened ambitions to list.
In December 2021, new passenger car registrations were down almost 27% on the previous year, according to Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).
MeinAuto, which was founded in 2007, now has 190 employees across six locations. Hg has owned the group since 2018.
($1 = 0.8835 euros)
