Cinven buys Idealista from EQT for €2.9 billion

Idealista breaks stereotypes again. British manager Cinven will buy the Spanish property portal in a deal that values ​​the company at 2.9 billion euros.

which became the largest acquisition in the history of the online company.ne closed in Spain and in turn became one of the largest corporate companies of the year.

The price at which the deal was finally closed involves multiplying the estimate by 2.2. Idealista when Swedish fund EQT took control of it in September 2020 for €1.3 billion.

Following the deal, which is expected to be signed in the next few hours as final details will not be revealed, Cinven will become Idealista’s majority shareholder with 70% of the capital.

equipmentwhich still controlled 55% of the capital, reinvests in Idealista and retains 18%, while the remaining 12% will remain in the hands of the founders and management team.who will continue to lead the company, according to sources familiar with EXPANSIÓN’s activities.

Apax and Oakleywhich until now had 17% and 12% Idealista, accordingly, will make money on the sale and exit the capital.

Final closing of the deal it may take a few more monthsas the operation must be approved by the competition authorities in Spain, Italy and Portugal, the three markets in which Idealista is present.

Small debt

As part of the Idealista acquisition, Cinven will continue to refinance the company’s debtbut at the request of management, the company will maintain a reasonable level of leverage of approximately three times EBITDA, which is below the typical level for a venture capital buyout.

Thus, according to sources, the liabilities will amount to between 360 and 420 million euros.

Morgan Stanley was a sales consultant while J.P. Morgan Recommended by Cinven. For its part, the law firm fresh fields worked with the buyer; A&O Shirmanwith TEQ; and Clifford Chance and Garriguewith the Idealist.

In more than two decades of existence, Idealista has been able to survive several real estate cycles and is one of the firms that survived the dot-com crisis, as well as one of the few Spanish unicorns (companies with a valuation of over one billion). The company, founded by Jesus Encinar in 2000.initially achieved the support of the Basque and Catalan savings banks, although already at the first stages he attracted the interest of investment funds.

Venture capital firm Bonsai Venture He joined the company in 2003 and the international fund Tiger Global Management followed in 2007. It replaced these funds Apax Partnerswhich burst in in 2015, buying Tiger Global Management, KutxaBank and Bonsai Venture’s stakes in the company, which were then valued at $235 million.

Five years later, Idealista made a splash, already at that time the largest purchase of an internet company in Spain. EQT took control of the group in September 2020, valuing the company at more than $ 1.3 billion. A few months later, he brought to the capital Oakley

(12%) and, again, Apax (17%).

In 2022, according to the latest registry data, Idealista had consolidated revenues of 218.4 million, up 22%, and gross operating profit (EBITDA) of 79.3 million, up 31%. However, the net accounting result remained negative at 82 million due to the amortization of goodwill.

The current EBITDA will range from 120 to 140 million.which is significantly higher than the latest publicly available data. The price used in the offer is therefore approximately twenty times the current EBITDA. This is explained by the company’s leading position in the European market and the distance it still has to travel.

In addition to organic growth, Idealista has made more than a dozen acquisitions in recent years, including the purchase of the Italian portal Casa.it; Catalan portals YaEncontre and YaEncontre Segurospreviously in the hands of the group Gothic; rental software designed for private and professional owners tenant; Italian Real Estate Software Gestim and Myogest; and from Portuguese HKPro.He also grew with the purchase Inmovillatechnologies for managing real estate solutions in Spain and Italy ReGold.

Idealista has a total of 16 offices in Spain, Portugal and Italy and employed 1,128 people at the end of 2022.