The acquisition of the Danish company will increase Club Car’s European profile.
Club Car recently announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Garia, the Denmark-based manufacturer of electric low-speed vehicles for the utility, consumer and golf markets, from Lars Larsen Group. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter.
Garia, founded in 2005, is best known as an innovator of luxury golf and leisure cars that feature elevated performance and distinctive Scandanavian design. The company launched Garia Utility in 2015, a growing line of compact vehicles for utility applications, including: public sector (municipalities, hospitals, universities, parks), facility management (industrial sites, hotels, resorts), leisure and outdoor (zoos, amusement parks, forestry and agriculture), and last-mile delivery (mail, packages, food delivery).
The acquisition also includes Melex, which Garia acquired in November 2021 to accelerate its growth in the utility space. Melex is a manufacturer of lightweight utility vehicles based in Poland and offers an array of street and non-street legal products, including multi-passenger and compact cargo utility vehicles.
“We have great respect for Garia and Melex, which design and build some of the most impressive electric golf, leisure and compact utility vehicles in the world,” said Mark Wagner, president of Club Car. “We are excited to welcome their teams to the Club Car family.
“Our product lines complement each other nicely with very little overlap,” he added. “Which is great news for our dealers and customers in Europe and the United States who will have access to a wider range of zero-emission, on and off-road vehicles at a greater variety of price points.”
Garia’s golf and consumer cars are primarily luxury products geared toward the high end of their respective markets. Garia and Melex’s utility products are mostly model types that Club Car doesn’t currently manufacture.
“Club Car is the perfect partner and will immediately open new opportunities for growth across our entire product portfolio,” said Garia CEO Jakob Holstein. “Club Car’s extensive dealer network, combined with the operational benefits we can achieve with substantially increased scale, will help us take our brands to a new level.”
Club Car is a portfolio company of Platinum Equity, which acquired the business in 2021.
“Around the world demand for sustainable transportation solutions continues to grow,” Platinum Equity Partner Jacob Kotzubei said. “The addition of Garia and Melex’s all-electric fleets will strenthen Club Car’s ability to meet that demand globally, and in the European utility market in particular, where governments and businesses are modernizing and electrifying their vehicle fleets.”
The Garia and Melex transaction is Club Car’s first add-on acquisition under Platinum Equity’s ownership.
“A big part of our ambition for Club Car is to expand its addressable market geographically and into new product categories,” said Platinum Equity Managing Director Matthew Louie. “This acquisition is an important step in delivering on that strategy. We will continue seeking more opportunities to grow the business organically and through additional acquisitions.”
Morgan Lewis, Bech-Bruun, and Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak are serving as legal counsel and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is providing debt financing counsel to Club Car and Platinum Equity on the Garia acquisition. Goldman Sachs is leading the debt financing on the transaction.
