Employee benefits specialist Edenred has said it will launch dedicated light fleet solutions in several European key countries after taking a majority shareholding in fuel and service card provider UTA.

Edenred has taken a majority shareholding in fuel and service card provider UTA.

Out of their 51% majority share, the Eckstein and van Dedem founding families are transferring 17% of UTA share capital to co-shareholder Edenred, whose ownership therefore increases from 34 to 51%. This comes as a result of the exercise of the 17% call option that was initially granted to Edenred by the founding families. Another 15% share in UTA is held by Daimler AG.

Bertrand Dumazy, chairman and CEO of Edenred and chairman of UTA, said: “Thanks to this controlling interest and encouraged by the success of our first common initiatives, we are confident in our ability to develop the potential of UTA in Europe by increasing our market share in the heavy vehicles fleet segment and by launching solutions dedicated to light vehicles in selected key countries”, says Bertrand Dumazy, Chairman and CEO of Edenred, Chairman of UTA.

The firms added that they see great potential in the development of UTA services for freight and heavy traffic, especially in Central and Eastern Europe.

“We are also working on new solutions for the management of light fleets, which Edenred will offer to its 300,000 customers in Europe in the future,” added Volker Huber, CEO of UTA. “With some 300 billion euros currently spent on fuel on business trips, the European B2B market for fuel cards has great potential for development. In the light fleet segment in particular, multibrand cashless payment solutions still have a strong growth potential.”