SeLoger Sells Off Its Vacation Rentals Brand AMIVAC to HomeToGo

The German vacation rental specialist HomeToGo has announced the acquisition of AMIVAC from French market-leading real estate vertical Groupe SeLoger for an undisclosed sum.

AMIVAC is a leading player in the French vacation rentals space and encompasses three distinct marketplace sites which will continue to operate under their distinct brands: amivac.com, vacances.com and vacances.seloger.com.

The deal, which was reportedly agreed back in August, will see HomeToGo add significant audience and inventory to its portfolio which already encompasses several brands (Wimdu, Tripping and Casamundo) and partnerships across 23 countries.

Dr Patrick Andrae, co-founder and CEO, HomeToGo, said: “We are very excited to add Groupe SeLoger’s vacation rental unit to our portfolio, which will give AMIVAC’s customers and professional agencies an added benefit of the advanced technology solutions that HomeToGo offers, while also serving our customers with an expanded offering of unique, high-quality vacation rentals in France. The vacation rental market is incredibly fragmented in both France and internationally, yet rapidly evolving and accelerating in growth with the tailwinds experienced by the pandemic."

For its part, SeLoger and the Axel Springer-owned AVIV Group of online classifieds to which it belongs, is paring down and focussing on its core competencies in residential real estate, a tactic which SeLoger's Country MD Caroline de Gantès referred to in a press release:

“Groupe SeLoger’s strategy is to focus on its core business – simplifying and improving real estate search – to improve the property buying, renting, and selling experience for all in France. We are convinced that with the ongoing consolidation of the vacation rental market in France and abroad, HomeToGo’s leading stature in the alternative accommodation industry offers compelling new opportunities for the Amivac, SeLoger Vacances and Vacances.com brands.”

The Berlin-based alternative accommodation marketplace company went public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange via a 1.2 billion Euro deal with LakeStar SPAC I back in September 2021. Like many tech stocks, HomeToGo's share price had suffered in December but the market is clearly happy with the most recent acquisition as the company's share price has rallied considerably since the announcement of the AMIVAC deal earlier in the month