Contact Person for Inquiries: Stefan Horst +49 6027 509-106

Contact person for inquiries: Stefan Horst +49 6027 509-106

Edenred takes over UTA majority

 Eckstein and van Dedem families are transferring a 17 percent stake to Edenred, worldwide leader in employee benefits and major player in expense management, providing the later with an overall 51 percent majority in UTA.  In Europe, Edenred plans to leverage UTA and its own expertise acquired in Latin America to increase its market share in the heavy fleet segment and to launch dedicated light fleet solutions in several European key countries.

Kleinostheim – 20 January 2017. As of 1 January 2017, UTA, the fuel and service card provider, has Paris-based Edenred group as a new majority shareholder. Out of their 51 percent majority share, the Eckstein and van Dedem founding families are transferring 17 percent of UTA share capital to co-shareholder Edenred, whose ownership therefore increases from 34 to 51 percent. This comes as a result of the exercise of the 17 percent call option that was initially granted to Edenred by the founding families. Another 15 percent share in UTA is held by Daimler AG.

“Following the signature of a strategic agreement with Embratec, doubling the size of its fuel card business in Brazil, Edenred becomes a global leader in the Expense Management market by increasing its share in the capital of UTA. Edenred, which has already been present in the capital of UTA for 2 years, is now the majority shareholder. 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.

“ When Edenred took over the 34 percent previously held by British Petroleum (BP) we granted them a purchase option of another 17 percent from the holdings of the owner families”, Klaus Eckstein explains. “Exercising this option constitutes a clear commitment on the part of the new majority owners to UTA's strategy and growth path”. UTA currently pools many services on a single fuel and service card in 40 European countries. Close to 1 million drivers use a UTA solution for the cashless settlement of travel costs (expenses, fuel, toll fees etc.), for the refund of VAT and for breakdown and tyre services. UTA and Edenred 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”, says 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.”

“ Edenred has ambitious goals on the Expense Management market. It is targeting an annual volume of more than 9 billion fuel liters by 2020, compared with 3.3 billion in 2015”, says Bertrand Dumazy. “This vigorous growth will have a significant impact on the Group's profile, since this business is expected to represent over 25% of its operating revenue by 2020, compared with 12% in 2015.”

About UNION TANK Eckstein UNION TANK Eckstein GmbH & Co. KG (UTA) is one of the leading providers of fuel and service cards in Europe. Commercial customers can use the UTA card system to refuel, independent of brand and without cash, at more than 54,000 service stations in 40 European countries and use other en-route services. These include toll invoicing, repair shop services, breakdown and towing services as well as the refund of VAT and fuel tax. The company, which was founded in 1963 by Heinrich Eckstein, is majority owned by Edenred SA (51 percent). The Eckstein and van Dedem families hold 34 percent, and Daimler AG is another shareholder (15 percent). The company is headquartered in Kleinostheim/Main. Some 400 employees of the UTA group generate annual sales of almost 2.6 billion euros. For the tenth time running, UTA was voted one of the most friendly and customer- oriented service providers in Germany by the consulting company ServiceRating, the Institute for Market- Oriented Management (IMU) in Mannheim, the opinion research institute YouGov and the business newspaper Handelsblatt. www.uta.com

About Edenred Edenred, which invented the Ticket Restaurant® meal voucher and is the world leader in prepaid corporate services, designs and manages solutions that improve the efficiency of organizations and purchasing power to individuals. By ensuring that allocated funds are used specifically as intended, these solutions enable companies to more effectively manage their: - Employee benefits (Ticket Restaurant®, Ticket Alimentación, Ticket CESU, Childcare Vouchers, etc.) - Expense management process (Ticket Car, Ticket Clean Way, Repom, etc.) - Incentive and reward programs (Ticket Compliments, Ticket Kadéos, etc.) The Group also supports public institutions in managing their social programs. Listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange, Edenred operates in 42 countries, with 8,000 employees, 750,000 companies and public sector clients, 1.4 million affiliated merchants and 43 million beneficiaries. In 2015, total issue volume amounted to €18.3 billion. Ticket Restaurant® and all other tradenames of Edenred products and services are registered trademarks of Edenred SA.

Follow Edenred on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Edenred

Reprint free of charge, copy requested. UNION TANK Eckstein GmbH & Co. KG, Stefan Horst, Head of Marketing Heinrich-Eckstein-Straße 1, D-63801 Kleinostheim/Main, telephone: +49 6027 509-106 Email: [email protected]