Adevinta Receives Buyout Bid From Permira and Blackstone Led Consortium

The European online marketplace operator Adevinta has confirmed via a press release that it has received a buyout bid led by Permira and Blackstone.

The "non-binding indicative proposal" would see a consortium led by the two investment giants buy out all shares of the company currently listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The Adevinta press release published late on Thursday notes that current shareholders eBay and Schibsted have expressed their support for the proposal and would retain part of their shareholding.

Adevinta warns investors that discussions are at an early stage "and there can be no certainty as to whether a final offer will be made, nor as to the terms of any offer". Discussions were also confirmed in a separate press release from Schibsted.

Adevinta is the online classifieds operator which was spun off from Norwegian publishing powerhouse Schibsted in 2019. The company operates a portfolio that includes real estate verticals in Spain (Fotocasa and Habitaclia), Brazil (VivaReal, and Zap joint venture), France (A Vendre A Louer) and Ireland (Daft.ie joint venture) as well as many leading horizontal classifieds platforms and car and job verticals mainly in Europe.

The company made a historical deal to take on the assets of eBay's classifieds division in 2020 after which eBay became a significant Adevinta shareholder. Since that deal, the company has been looking to focus solely on profitable European markets and embarked on a divestment streak which culminated last week with the sale of its Hungarian assets to local real estate portal operator Ingatlan.

Although Adevinta is making headway on its path to becoming a transactions-driven business, the company's share price has plummeted since announcing the eBay classifieds deal in July 2020.