Norwegian classified ad specialist Adevinta has received a significant offer from two private equity firms. If successful, the former world leader in its sector would be one of the biggest acquisitions in Europe this year.
Takeover of the year?
In 2020, eBay sold its classified ads division to Norwegian company Adevinta, making it the world’s largest classified ads company. At its peak, Adevinta had search engine sites as far away as Australia and South Africa, but it has since slimmed down to ten countries. Benelux is one of core markets, with marketplaces like 2dehands.be, 2ememain.be and marktplaats.nl.
Now, however, a consortium of investors has offered fourteen billion euros for Adevinta. According to the Wall Street Journal, these include private equity groups Permira and Blackstone, which also previously tried to buy eBay’s search business. If the deal goes through, it will be one of this year’s biggest acquisitions in Europe.
However, Adevinta is still playing ‘hard to get’: the listed company is not formally advising shareholders to sell as it thinks it could become even more valuable in the future. Nevertheless, takeover candidates say they are already sure of 72 %: eBay, which still had shares from the takeover, is already stepping in.
