Kenya’s Competition Authority has approved Volkswagen AG’s plan to take sole control of Europcar Mobility Group, the car rental company that operates in around 130 countries. The authorisation is dated 21st August 2026 and appeared in the Kenya Gazette in the week ended 2nd October. The entry lists no conditions.
Volkswagen already owns Europcar, but not alone. Since 2022 it has held 66% of Green Mobility Holding, the company that owns Europcar, with Attestor, a London asset manager, on 27% and the Dutch group Pon Holdings on 7%. The European Commission cleared that structure as joint control, meaning Volkswagen could not make the big decisions on its own.
The new deal ends that. Volkswagen has agreed to buy Attestor’s 27% for about EUR 1 billion, or about KES 145 billion at EUR 1 to KES 145.42 on 6th October 2026. That lifts its indirect stake from 66% to 93%, and Pon keeps its 7%. The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to the remaining regulatory approvals.
Both companies have a presence in Kenya. Volkswagen operates here, and we covered its plan to restart vehicle assembly here with Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers in December 2024. Europcar is here through independent franchisees. They pay Europcar royalty fees for the name and for access to its booking and fleet systems, and they own and manage their rental businesses themselves, as the regional competition notice on the same deal sets out. Europcar runs its own stations in 14 countries and uses franchisees everywhere else. The notice describes no change to the franchise arrangements.
So nothing in the notice points to a change for anyone renting a Europcar car in Kenya, and the shareholding stays as it is until the deal closes.
That regional notice is a second review to watch. The East African Community Competition Authority, the regional regulator for the bloc, opened its own inquiry on 14th August 2026 and asked for comments by 25th August. Its notice page shows no decision yet. It is a separate review from Kenya’s.
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