Back to overview
  • Type: Buyout
  • Category: B2B, Internet, Transaction platform
  • Year: 2016-2019
  • Status: Realized Investment
View website

Cars on the Web

On 16 December 2016, Vortex Capital Partners acquired CarsOnTheWeb, together with ABN Amro Participaties and Company’s management team & founders. CarsOnTheWeb is a leading online B2B transaction platform for car trade, enabling efficient remarketing of large batches of cars. Headquartered in Belgium, CarsOnTheWeb has subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. In January 2019 KAR Auction Services Inc., the US based car auctioneer, announced the acquisition of CarsOnTheWeb.

Key achievements during holding period

  • Strengthened leadership position in Europe by acquired German competitor GW Liste
  • # of cars traded doubled during holding period by executing on ambitious growth plan
  • Investment in automation and technology to significantly increase scalability and margins

Sold to KAR global in 2018
View website

 

Add-on acquisition for Cars on the Web:

 

Case study

At Cars-on-the-web (now Adesa Europe), we saw the opportunity to become the leading portal for used cars in the B2B segment in Europe. Since day 1, we were on the same page with Vortex. We were able to accelerate growth by defining clear priorities, having financial muscle to invest and by solving our key technology challenges. Acquiring German competitor GW Liste marked a step change in our growth journey and relevance in Europe. Vortex played a pivotal role to prepare and sell the business to KAR, a US based strategic owner.

Johan Meyssen – CEO at Adesa Europe

Next