The anticipated break-up of Adevinta, the marketplace giant acquired by private equity firms Permira and Blackstone in May, is possibly already underway. The first assets for sale could be a collection of leading marketplaces in Ireland, part of Distilled Ltd, a joint venture between Adevinta and DML Capital, as reported by Reuters, which cited “four people with knowledge of the matter.”
The news agency added that the business could fetch a price of up to €600 million ($665 million U.S.).
Distilled operates Daft.ie (which stands for “Dublin Accommodation Finder Terminal”) — by far the leading real estate marketplace in Ireland in terms of visitor numbers — as well as auto marketplace Done Deal, general marketplace Adverts.ie and Gumtree Jobs.
Distilled is a 50-50 joint venture between Oslo-based Adevinta and Ireland-based DML Capital Ltd. The latter is owned by brothers Eamonn and Brian Fallon, who founded Daft in 1997. Eamonn Fallon is CEO of DML Capital. According to Reuters, DML might retain a stake in Distilled after any sale.
Revenue at Distilled Limited rose by 8.6% year on year to €36.7 million in 2022, according to a regulatory filing. Its pre-tax profit rose by 13.1% to €9.5 million during the same year.
Many anticipate a sell-off of non-core assets by Adevinta as the company focuses on its most lucrative markets, namely its marketplace operations in France and Germany. Even its relatively strong assets in mature Western economies like Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain could be sold off.
The AIM Group contacted both Adevinta and Eamonn Fallon for comment. Fallon declined to comment, while Adevinta has yet to respond.
Sep. 4: Updated with response of Daft.ie co-founder and DML Capital Ltd. CEO Eamonn Fallon
Nov. 27: Correction — Daft stands for “Dublin Accommodation Finder Terminal,” rather than “Dublin Area Flats and Tenancies,” as was originally stated.
