the swedish background TEQ has announced the purchase of idealista by 1,321 million euros, which represents the largest operation in the Spanish digital sector in its entire history, well above (500 million euros). As EQT has explained in one, the idealista management team, led by its founder and CEO Jesus Encinar, will continue to lead the company, “Building on its strong track record of growth and innovation.”
Through this operation, EQT takes control of 80% of the company’s shares, which were in the hands of the investment firm since 2015, when he entered the capital of idealista. At that time, idealista was valued at about €235 million.
EQT Partners is a global investment company with more than €62 billion in capital and €40 billion in assets under management in 19 funds. EQT participates in companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the US and Canada that generate more than 27,000 million euros per year and create more than 159,000 jobs. EQT collaborates with its investees to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.
The idealista team began talks with EQT in recent months, holding all the meetings by videoconference due to the covid-19 crisis, but it was last weekend when the talks accelerated, signing the agreement late at night on Wednesday September 9. The operation was carried out by means of an electronic signature with the mobile phone by all the participants.
What will be the future of idealista after the operation
The Swedish fund has been committed to the growth of idealista: “EQT IX will support idealista’s growth and continued pursuit of business excellence by investing in the online platform and further developing its portfolio of value-added services for real estate agents. In addition, idealista is expected to take advantage of EQT’s in-house digital and technology expertise, global presence and network of advisors. Together with its founders and management, EQT will support idealista’s plans to further penetrate its core markets and strengthen its position as the leading and reference platform for online real estate classifieds in southern Europe«.
For its part, Jesus EncinarCEO of idealista has been very optimistic about this operation: “We are very excited to partner with EQT and look forward to working together for years to come. EQT’s online classifieds and real estate expertise, local presence in Spain and Italy and extensive network of advisors will be of great value to us and key to our future success. idealista and EQT share a similar culture and passion for growth, a key decision factor for me and my team to partner with them.”
A new milestone in the history of idealista
idealista (yes, in lower case, as the company itself writes it), is undoubtedly one of the benchmarks in the real estate sector in our country. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Madrid, Spain, idealista supports approximately 40,000 real estate agents and 38 million monthly unique visitors in southern Europe by providing an online classifieds marketplace for home buyers and sellers. In addition, idealista’s online mortgage brokerage, data analytics and CRM tools make it a key destination for prospective homeowners and sellers in Spain, Italy and Portugal.
Since its idealistic growth, it has not stopped growing, defining a trajectory in which they have had to face the real estate bubble, the crisis, the subsequent economic recovery and the COVID crisis.
But how did this company come about? One of its founders,
His brother Jesus Encinar He returned to Spain after spending a season in the United States. The discovery of sales and rental services through the Internet in the American country, and the need to create a similar portal in Spain at that time it was what led them to create a website that would help people find a home.
For months he was thinking about how he would do it and who he would choose to accompany him on the adventure. Finally, the Encinar brothers, together with their other partner Cesar Oteizato embark on this story with its own name that is almost two decades old.
We are talking about the year 2000, the year in which idealista was founded. Let’s put ourselves in a situation: , there are no , not to mention smartphones, Wi-Fi…
In this almost hostile and prehistoric environment of the Internet, the three partners undertook their project with a clear objective: bring to Spain something that did not exist until then, and facilitate the process of searching for an address for its users (until then in our country the only way to do it was through real estate agencies, on the street, and through press advertisements).
The portal started that year only in Madrid, and went through some tough times. So one of its founders: «one of the most difficult moments, in 2002, when the survival of the company depended on a phone call in which our shareholders at that time, which were two savings banks, one Basque (BBK) and the other Catalan (Caixa Catalunya), told us whether or not they would grant us a loan participatory. Fortunately, the answer was yes and we were able to reach profitability in January 2003″.
Since then, the results have always been positive for the company, and it has become a benchmark in its sector.
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