RAC plc
 |
|
| Private limited company | |
| Industry | Automotive services |
| Founded | 1897 |
| Founder | Frederick Simms |
| Headquarters | Walsall, West Midlands, United Kingdom |
|
Area served
|
United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland |
|
Key people
|
Rob Templeman (Chairman) Dave Hobday (CEO) |
| Services | Roadside assistance, general insurance |
| Revenue | £501 million (2015) |
| £95 million (2011) | |
| Owner |
CVC Capital Partners (50%) GIC Private Limited (50%) |
|
Number of employees
|
3,700 (2011 average) |
| Subsidiaries | RAC Motoring Services Limited RAC Financial Services Limited RAC Insurance limited |
| Website | www.rac.co.uk |
RAC Limited (The RAC) is a British automotive services company headquartered in Walsall, West Midlands. Its principal services are roadside assistance and general insurance and its subsidiaries include RAC Motoring Services Ltd, RAC Financial Services Ltd and RAC Insurance Limited.
The RAC emerged as the "Associate Section" of the Royal Automobile Club founded at the turn of the 20th century and it was incorporated as R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in 1978. It was sold by the members of the Royal Automobile Club to Lex Service Plc in 1999, which subsequently renamed itself RAC Plc. In 2005, RAC Plc was acquired by Aviva and delisted. Aviva then sold the RAC to the Carlyle Group in June 2011. Although Carlyle had originally planned a stock market flotation for the RAC, in September 2014 Carlyle agreed to sell almost half its stake to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Limited. In December 2015, Carlyle agreed to sell its remaining stake to CVC Capital Partners in a transaction valuing the RAC at £1.4 billion.
The RAC's main competitors are The AA and Green Flag.
The Royal Automobile Club was formed in 1897 by Frederick Richard Simms, which set up an "associate section" to assist members with roadside assistance and to provide motoring services. The club incorporated the associate section as R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in 1978. In 1987, the organisation introduced an "Advanced Computer Aided Rescue System".
In 1991, it established the RAC Foundation as its research arm. The RAC Foundation was later turned into a charity and received a legacy from Royal Automobile Club members when R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. was later sold.
British School of Motoring (BSM) was purchased by R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in 1998. In September 1999, R.A.C. Motoring Services was itself purchased by Lex Service Plc from members of the Royal Automobile Club and Lex Service renamed themselves RAC Plc in 2002. In 2000, RAC purchased I/CAD from Intergraph to provide advanced graphical command-and-control capabilities. and in 2004 The National Customer Service Awards' recognized the system with the 'Best Use of Technology in Customer Service' award. In March 2005, Aviva Plc acquired RAC Plc for around £1.1 billion. Aviva then went on to raise around £500m from selling some parts of the business, such as RAC Auto Windscreens in 2008 and BSM to a German company in January 2009. BSM has since been sold to Acromas Holdings which owns The Automobile Association.
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Wikipedia