Apax X sells stake in Spanish real estate platform to private equity firm Cinven

The Apax X Fund, backed by investment trust Apax Global Alpha (AGA), has sold its minority stake in idealista, a Spanish online real estate classifieds platform, to private equity firm Cinven.

AGA said on Monday that the transaction values its look-through investment in idealista at around €14.8m (£12.6m), marking an uplift of roughly 9.6 per cent to its last unaffected valuation and an uplift of some €1.3m (£1.1m) in Apax’s adjusted net asset value as of 31 March 2024.

The London-listed trust added that the deal would deliver a total gross multiple on invested capital of 2.1 times and a gross internal rate of return of 24 per cent for Apax X.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approval. Separately, Cinven announced it had struck a deal to acquire a majority stake in idealista for €2.9bn (£2.5bn).

Apax X first took a minority stake in idealista in February 2021 after the Apax VIII fund sold the company to Swedish private equity giant EQT.

Apax VIII first invested in idealista in 2015. AGA said that over the nine years of Apax Funds’ ownership idealista has grown revenues by more than seven times and headcount by more than four times.

Founded in 2000, Madrid-based idealista provides an online real estate classifieds marketplace for homebuyers and sellers. It claims to connect around 60,000 real estate agents with more than 38m unique monthly visitors, generating over one billion visits annually across southern Europe.

The Apax Funds have invested more than $4.8bn (£3.8bn) of equity in 14 companies operating online marketplaces for real estate, automotive, boats, jobs and consumer financial products.

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