Volkswagen has agreed to sell Europcar to Eurazeo, the French investment group for €3.32bn (£2.3bn).

By selling the Paris-based Europcar, the group would ‘significantly’ reduce the amount of capital tied up and allow it to ‘continue to focus on our core business’, said Volkswagen chief executive Bernd Pischetsrieder.

Eurazeo will pay Volkswagen €1.26bn (£863.8m) in cash and take on €2.06bn (£1.4bn) in debt in the deal, which needs the approval of regulators and Volkswagen’s supervisory board. The deal is expected to be done bny the end of the second quarter.