Auto1 gains €460m financial infusion from Japan’s Softbank
The German used-car dealing platform says the deal eases pressure for an initial public offering
Berlin — German used-car dealing platform Auto1 said a €460m financial infusion from Japan’s Softbank meant it was under no pressure to launch an initial public offering to fund its pan-European growth plans. Softbank, through its Vision Fund, will make about half of its investment via new shares, valuing Auto1 at €2.9bn and supporting the car trader’s international expansion. That money is of the order that Berlin-based Auto1 might have raised with a stock-market flotation, co-founder Hakan Koc said on Monday. "That’s why we aren’t considering going to the market for now," he said. The Financial Times earlier reported the investment by the Softbank Vision Fund, which was set up by Japan’s Masayoshi Son and has raised more than $90bn, chiefly from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Auto1, founded in 2012, buys cars using its vehicle pricing database to calculate an offer within minutes. It then sells the vehicles on to one of its about 35,000 dealerships for a...
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