Axel Springer Digital Classifieds acquires 80% of property portal Immoweb.be in Belgium for €127.5M, says it will add to its international portfolio
Sandy Yang
BERLIN
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November 7, 2012
(press release)
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Axel Springer Digital Classifieds, the company founded by Axel Springer and global growth investor General Atlantic as part of a strategic partnership in the spring of 2012, acquires a majority interest in Belgian property portal Immoweb.be. A share purchase agreement regarding the acquisition of 80 per cent of the shares in IMMOWEB S.A. was concluded with members of the owning family Rousseaux and Produpress S.C.A. today. The purchase price amounts to EUR 127.5 million. Christophe Rousseaux, who will continue to lead IMMOWEB S.A. as CEO, as well as two other family members retain a 20 per cent participation in the company.
IMMOWEB S.A., founded in 1996, operates the leading Belgian online property portal. Every month more than 2.4 million Unique Visitors use Immoweb.be’s platform.
Dr. Jens Müffelmann, Head of the Electronic Media Division at Axel Springer AG: „Immoweb.be is an excellent addition to our international portfolio: Immoweb.be is the clear market leader, has an immense reach and records strong growth in both revenue and earnings at a high profitability. We are also pleased that Christophe Rousseaux will further advance the development in his function as CEO and fellow shareholder.“
Jörn Nikolay, Principal and Head of General Atlantic’s German office: „Following the acquisitions of Totaljobs and meinestadt.de, the acquisition of a majority interest in Immoweb.be will strengthen Axel Springer Digital Classifieds in yet another market.“
Christophe Rousseaux, CEO and shareholder Immoweb.be: „We are very proud to welcome Axel Springer Digital Classifieds as a majority shareholder of Immoweb. This stakeholding will enable us to strengthen our marketleading position in Belgium. It will also help us to pursue the tremendous growth that we have already experienced for more than a decade thanks to the outperforming and passionate team in place.“
In early March 2012, Axel Springer AG and the global growth investor General Atlantic agreed to set up Axel Springer Digital Classifieds GmbH. The strategic partnership created the conditions necessary for accelerated growth within digital classifieds. Axel Springer’s online classifieds business is bundled into Axel Springer Digital Classifieds, with Axel Springer holding a 70 percent share, as majority shareholder, and General Atlantic holding a 30 percent share in this company. Along with the European online job portal StepStone and the market-leading job portal in the United Kingdom, Totaljobs, the French property portal SeLoger, the German property portal Immonet and the German city portal meinestadt.de also form part of Axel Springer Digital Classifieds.
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