OYO to acquire Amsterdam-based vacation rental company @Leisure Group for $415M

@Leisure Group, through its Belvilla, DanCenter, and Danland brands, offers more than 30,000-fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe

Oyo Hotels & Homes said it is acquiring Amsterdam-based vacation rental company the @Leisure Group, which manages holiday homes, holiday parks and holiday apartments in Europe.

The SoftBank-backed company did not disclose the size of the transaction, but the deal is estimated to be about - €370 million ($415 million), according to people familiar with the matter. 

OYO is acquiring the @Leisure from German digital publishing house Axel Springer, which bought a 51% stake in the company for an undisclosed sum five years ago. Tobias Wann, CEO of the @Leisure Group, will join Oyo's leadership group as CEO, Vacation Homes, and will work with Maninder Gulati, Oyo's global chief strategy officer.

"@Leisure Group has proven capabilities in helping develop Europe into a vacation rentals hotspot and we are keen to leverage their competencies towards ensuring beautiful vacation rental and urban homes experience for millions of tourists from every part of the world," said Ritesh Agarwal, founder and group CEO of OYO. "It is a business decision closely aligned with our overall mission."

The company offers more than 30,000 fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe through its Belvilla, DanCenter and Danland brands, and a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries through its Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand. This represents a total inventory of over 300,000 rooms.

Axel Springer said it is selling its majority interest in the @Leisure Group to focus more on the activities of its StepStone Group and AVIV Group in the classifieds media segment.

Axel Springer said it will receive a total of about -180 million, including the repayment of a shareholder loan of 60 million euros, and that the deal has an EBITDA multiple of more than 15 for 2018. 

The 180 million euros cited by Axel Springer is the first tranche of the transaction, people familiar with the deal said. OYO said that with the acquisition, it will have over 100 million vacation rental and urban homes and that Europe is the largest market, accounting for 30-40% of this total supply. Oyo said the @Leisure Group is among the very few companies with an 'Oyo-like full-stack approach' to vacation rentals management.

Gulati said the @Leisure Group offers holiday homes, cottages and holiday parks in more than 300 cities across Europe ranging from Kokelv in Norway to Zahara de los Atunes in Spain. Oyo said that more than 2.8 million people from over 118 countries book their holidays with the @Leisure Group every year.

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