Private equity firm Cinven has agreed to pay €2.9 billion for a 70% stake in the Spanish portal operator Idealista, with previous majority shareholder EQT retaining an 18% stake.
The deal values Idealista a shade over €3 billion, more than double the €1.3 billion valuation the company achieved in September 2020 when EQT took control of the portal.
Apax (17%) and Oakley (11%) will sell their stakes in Idealista and will leave the company’s shareholding. Jesús Encinar, founder and President of Idealista, will continue to lead the company alongside his team.
Commenting on the deal, Encinar said:
“[The entry of Cinven is] excellent news for Idealista and its team. After 4 years since the entry of EQT and Oakley and the reinvestment of the funds managed by Apax, I am very happy to have helped them sell their stake with an excellent result for their investors.
“We are now opening a new path for Idealista with one of the most respected funds worldwide with which we fully share values to create innovative, leading, sustainable and socially responsible companies.
“EQT’s reinvestment is very good news for us, for the market and we are happy to continue counting on this fund for the coming years.”
Jorge Quemada, partner and CEO at Cinven Iberia, said:
“Idealista is an incredible company.
“The more we got to know it the more we liked it. It is a company extraordinarily well managed by Jesús, its founder, who has managed to assemble a first-rate team and make Idealista a world reference in the classifieds sector.
“It is an exceptional case that a company with Idealista’s trajectory continues under the management of those who have taken it this far and our intention is to accompany Jesús and his team in the next stage that will surely reinforce its leadership in the markets and businesses in which it is present.
“We are looking forward to working with Jesús and his team to take Idealista even further.”
Idealista is one of the most recognizable names in European real estate and successfully holds market-leading positions in multiple countries.
It is a clear market leader in its native Spain and sister market Portugal while its Italian portals Idealista.it and Casa.it continue to challenge Immobiliare.it in a hotly contested battle for pole position.
