Oakley Capital to buy portfolio of European property websites

Bermuda-based Oakley Capital Investments is to buy a portfolio of European property websites.

AIM-listed Oakley's private equity fund is to buy the websites, including Italy’s casa.it and Luxembiurg’s atHome.lu, in a carve-out from its parent company, REA Group.

The acquisition builds on the company's experience in the online consumer sector through its previous investments in Italian price comparison website Facile.it, German dating service Parship Elite and German consumer website Verivox.de.

The portfolio generated €33.3m of revenue and earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €6m for the year ended 30 June.

The fund intends to partly fund the acquisition with third party debt, while the company's contribution to the equity investment, through its interest in the fund, is expected to be about €50m dependent on the capital structure at completion of the deal.

It said it was attracted to these business models due to the “strong underlying structural market growth” in these areas, with their “asset-light nature which leads to strong cash conversion, and the ability to accelerate performance”, especially around marketing.

Rossetto, chief executive of Casa.it, said: "Our partnership with Oakley Capital puts our team in the best position to deliver the next stage of Casa.it's journey in the digital market. Oakley's experience, track record and approach to their investments, is a perfect match with our ambition to build a remarkable success story in Italy and in Europe."

Tim Pittevils, chief executive of atHome Group, added: "This partnership with Oakley is an aspirational combination to accelerate our ambitions in Luxembourg and France. The support, expertise and entrepreneurial mind-set of Oakley will help us in our move beyond our core activities and continue our successful growth story."

Oakley’s director Peter Dubens, the company intends to leverage the “strong growth prospects” for online property portals in Europe.

The Italian property market is estimated to be worth over €75bn per year and the company claims that the potential for property portals is expected to grow as the market develops, while AtHome.lu covers 90% of the estate agents in Luxembourg.

Shares in Oakley Capital Investment were down 0.2% to 149.70p at 0913 GMT.