More than five million fuel cards from DKV Mobility are in circulation among fleet operators.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt According to financial circles, Europe’s largest fuel card provider DKV Mobility is planning an IPO to enable private equity owner CVC to exit. JP Morgan, Bank of America and UBS are organizing the new issue planned for September in Frankfurt.
The company could be valued at 3.5 to 4 billion euros, people familiar with the transaction said. Evercore acts as a so-called IPO advisor.
Whether the transaction can take place as planned depends on the markets. Many stock market candidates have postponed their listings because the mood on the stock exchanges is too nervous due to the war in Ukraine.
Should the situation calm down, new issues could take place again in the June window or from September, investment bankers said. IPOs are currently considered unfeasible.
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The company initially did not confirm the stock exchange plans. “In order to further develop our company, management and owners are constantly examining all possible options,” said a company spokesman.
The Fischer family, now based in Munich and one of the richest families in Germany, owns a clear majority stake in DKV. Financial investor CVC owns a minority stake and now wants to get out via the stock exchange. The family, CVC and the banks all declined to comment.
DKV Mobility: More than five million fuel cards in circulation
The Ratinger company’s offer is aimed at fleet operators who can use the five million fuel cards issued to calculate their energy requirements and toll fees. The DKV app helps truck drivers, for example, with intelligent route guidance and shows where the nearest gas station is that accepts DKV cards.
Over 65,000 filling stations across Europe are part of the DKV network, as are 200,000 charging points for electric vehicles and the first hydrogen filling stations. The company employs a good 1300 people.
DKV booked a transaction volume of 9.3 billion euros in 2020, the figures for the past year are not yet available. According to financial circles, DKV achieved an operating result (Ebitda) of 240 million euros in 2021.
In an IPO, DKV could be valued at a similar value to its UTA-branded rival Edenred of France, which is currently trading at 16 times its expected 2022 Ebitda. US competitor Wex currently has a slightly lower multiplier of ten.
DKV was founded in 1934 as a service provider for the Reichsbahn, but from the mid-1950s it focused on selling diesel to truck fleets. In 1966 the first DKV card was issued. DKV has also been offering Europe-wide toll processing since 1990.
While Gothaer Versicherung was a 45 percent shareholder for a few years from 1999, the financial institution exited again in 2017 and the owner family Fischer went looking for a financial investor, which they found in CVC in 2019. This chapter is to end with the planned IPO and subsequent placements.
More: War in Ukraine abruptly halts boom in IPOs