Spain: Idealista acquires a stake in Yaencontre

Spanish property portal, Idealista recently entered into the shareholding of its Catalan rival Yaencontre, owned by the Godó Group.

The percentage of capital acquired and the amount of the "relevant investment" has not yet been disclosed by mutual agreement of the companies involved.

Both companies stated that Idealista and Yaencontre will continue to work autonomously, and that there will not be a team integration instead, each company will continue its commercial strategy independently. There will be an exchange of best practices and both companies will share the values ​​of excellence, ethics and diversity that have made them leaders.

Yaencontre, is based in Olèrdola (Barcelona), billed €6.25 million in 2018 and has 61 employees. The company offers approximately 650k homes on its website. For its part, Idealista, controlled by investment funds managed by Apax Partners, billed €64 million in 2018 and has 393 employees.

Jesús Encinar, founder and CEO of Idealista said, “I am impressed by the quality of the [Yaencontre] team, by the management that both Oscar and Ferriol have made of the company in recent years and how they have overcome the crisis and built an excellent team, with very good professionals. We are looking forward to sharing experiences, learning from them and sharing our best practices.”

Óscar Mateu, CEO of Yaencontre stated, “Idealista is undoubtedly the leader in Spain, one of the leading technology companies in Europe and internationally. Its management team has demonstrated how leadership can be achieved and maintained. Any company in our environment would dream of having Idealista as a reference shareholder. For us it is an unequivocal sign of the future that awaits Yaencontre: more leadership, more knowledge, best practices and customer service.”