Adevinta Values Spanish Assets at €2 Billion Ahead of Summer Bidding War

Adevinta has reportedly slapped a €2 billion price tag on its suite of Spanish assets, with several parties expected to make acquisition bids by July.

Spanish daily Expansión has reported that private equity firms, including Idealista shareholder EQT, are interested in buying businesses, including the Spanish challenger real estate portal Fotocasa. Other potential bidders such as Advent, Apax, Prosus, and Hellman & Friedman are also reportedly interested.

According to MarketScreener, two sources with knowledge of the situation suggested that Apax Partners, EQT, and Hellman & Friedman are the frontrunners, with bids reportedly expected in July. None of the interested parties has so far offered comment to the media.

Adevinta's Spanish assets cover several marketplace horizontals, most notably Fotocasa and Habitcalia in the real estate space, Coches.net and Motos.com (automobiles), Milanuncios (general classifieds), and Infojobs (recruitment).

Adevinta is owned by a consortium led by Permira and Blackstone after the pair stumped up $13 billion in 2024. The bulk of Adevinta's revenues come from its European Markets segment, including its Spanish assets.

The Spanish assets have reportedly been up for sale since day one, with Permira and Blackstone targeting a sale before 2030 as they plan to refocus efforts on the classified operator's core markets of Germany, France and Benelux.  Coverage purporting to a potential sale has become regular, when rumours of a Spain sell-off reemerged in May.

Adevinta's desire to divest assets predates the Permira and Blackstone takeover, as the company's once global classifieds empire has been dwindling since joining forces with eBay's classifieds division in 2020.

This desire to sell the Spanish assets appears to have been accelerated with Goldman Sachs and LionTree brought in as financial advisors ahead of a number of non-binding offers for the Spanish business by mid-July.

But who is most interested, and why?

As a minority shareholder in idealista, EQT may face regulatory hurdles if it is serious about acquiring assets such as the Spanish number two portal, and idealista's main domestic rival, Fotocasa, from Adevinta. Meanwhile, Expansión's coverage reports that Hellman & Friedman already has a classifieds footprint and would submit a bid via its autos marketplace AutoScout24.

Adevinta's Spanish operations currently employ around 1,600 people, with a combined 146 million web visits per month.