Benzinga | Jan 26, 2022 07:08AM EST

Cazoo To Acquire brumbrum For 80M

* brumbrum is Italy's leading online used car retail & subscription player

* Offering a wide selection of cars for purchase, finance or subscription

* Team of over 180 with strong management and local market expertise

* In-house vehicle preparation site with capacity to produce 15k cars pa

* Extensive local supply, finance, commercial and logistics relationships

* Italy is Europe's 4th largest used car market by both volume and value

* Acquisition will accelerate Cazoo's planned launch across Italy in 2022

LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cazoo (NYSE:CZOO), Europe's leading online car retailer, which makes buying and selling a car as simple and seamless as ordering any other product online, today announced that it has agreed to acquire brumbrum, Italy's leading digital car retailer and subscription platform.

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(Photo: Business Wire)

Founded in 2016, brumbrum is based in Milan and has grown to a team of over 180 staff, including at its 40,000 square metre vehicle preparation site in Reggio Emilia, which has the capacity to refurbish over 15,000 cars annually. The business offers hundreds of vehicles for sale, finance or subscription for delivery across Italy.

Cazoo was founded in 2018 by British entrepreneur Alex Chesterman and is one of the fastest growing businesses in Europe, pioneering the shift to online car buying. It listed on the NYSE last year and has already built a world class team of over 3,800 across the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal.

Cazoo has sold over 50,000 cars online since its launch just over two years ago, as consumers have embraced the selection, value, transparency and convenience of buying used cars fully online. It launched in 2019 in the UK and more recently launched in France and Germany last December.

The transaction will combine Cazoo's market-leading brand, platform and funding with brumbrum's strong team, local market expertise and commercial relationships across Italy and, once integrated, will accelerate the launch of Cazoo's full proposition throughout Italy by the middle of this year.

Cazoo will acquire brumbrum for (euro)80 million in a mix of cash & Cazoo shares and the transaction is expected tocomplete in the coming days. Following its recent launches in France and Germany and its acquisitions in Spain and Italy, Cazoo will now have a strong presence across each of the 5 largest European markets for used cars.

Alex Chesterman OBE, Founder & CEO of Cazoo said: "brumbrum is the leading online car retailer and car subscription player in Italy and has built a great team, culture and business and much like Cazoo in the UK, it has been pioneering the shift to online car buying in Italy. We are expanding into key European markets at a faster pace than anticipated and this acquisition will accelerate our launch plans in Italy so that we can deliver better selection, value, quality and convenience to consumers when buying or subscribing to their next car in Italy. I look forward to welcoming the brumbrum team to Cazoo and working with them to deliver the best car buying experience to Italian consumers."

Francesco Banfi, Founder & CEO of brumbrum said, "We have built a very strong team with excellent commercial relationships at brumbrum and I am very proud of what we have all achieved so far. The combination with the Cazoo platform and brand will significantly enable us to grow the Cazoo service in Italy. Cazoo's vision and strategy is entirely aligned with ours and I am looking forward to joining forces and accelerating the launch of Cazoo and the digital transformation of the car buying, selling and subscription experience across Italy and the rest of Europe."

brumbrum was advised by Jefferies and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.