Cinven has beaten other competitors in the acquisition of Idealista, the leading real estate portal in Spain, currently owned by the EQT fund. The British company has obtained an exclusivity contract to negotiate the purchase of the company for close to 3 billion euros, according to Expansión.
A week ago, Idealista's current owners, Swedish fund EQT along with British funds Apax and Oakley Capital, received the first bids. Among the bidders were some of the world's largest investment funds, including TA Associates, CVC, CPPIB, and General Atlantic, the latter being the initial favorite.
However, Cinven has managed to secure exclusivity to negotiate the purchase, expecting to conclude the transaction in June. The sale, coordinated by consulting firm Morgan Stanley, has generated considerable interest in international markets. EQT acquired Idealista for 1.3 billion euros four years ago, and the current sale price is almost three times that figure.
EQT has been a major player in the international market for the past four years.
Idealista was founded in 2000 with the support of savings banks in the Basque and Catalan regions, overcoming the dotcom bubble and the real estate crisis of 2008 under the management of brothers Jesós and Fernando Encinar along with their friend César Oteiza. Today, it is one of the few unicorns in Spain, with a valuation of more than 1 billion euros, and has acquired other companies to expand its business.