Adevinta Sells Vivanuncios and Segundamano to Navent Group—But It Isn't All Smiles

Adevinta has announced the sale of two Mexican portals just two years after taking control of the companies.

The generalist classifieds sites Segundamano and Vivanuncios have been sold to Navent Group and will be managed by Navent subsidiary Inmuebles24. While Segundamano is a true generalist classifieds site, Vivanuncios started life as a generalist but in recent years has come to be dominated by real estate listings and can almost be considered a vertical site.

Antoine Jouteau, the newly appointed CEO at Adevinta, said of the deal:

"We want to thank everyone at Segundamano and Vivanuncios for their contributions to the business over the years. Adevinta will continue to support both the Mexican markets and their employees during the transition period to ensure the continuity of their businesses and their users."

The sale is a continuation of Adevinta's plan to focus on five key European markets, which has involved selling off non-European assets including the two Mexican portals—which were originally purchased as part of Adevinta's acquisition of eBay Classifieds in 2020.

According to an Adevinta press release, the impact of the sale on the company's financials is considered "immaterial". That word might give a clue as to why Adevinta has been selling off the classified portal assets from its 'International Markets' segment many of which were inherited from eBay Classifieds.

Navent was already a market leader in much of Latin America when it was bought out by Brazilian unicorn Quinto Andar in December 2021. The deal for Vivanuncios, along with the launch of rental marketplace Benvi in June, will only increase Navent's dominance of the Mexican market.

With the #1 and #2 portals in the country now owned and run by Navent, one industry leader has rebuked the deal. In a post published on LinkedIn, rival Lamudi Group CEO Jaume Molet said:

"Very bad news for the competitiveness of the real estate industry in Mexico and for the thousands of real estate professionals who will be affected." [translated from Spanish]

Online Marketplaces predicted the sale of Vivanuncios earlier this year after Adevinta publicly admitted that its strategy was now focused around the five key European markets of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.