Ebay, Adevinta plan sale of UK units to complete $9.2bn tie-up

US e-commerce group eBay and Norway’s Adevinta plan to sell three smaller British units to secure regulatory approval for a long-planned tie-up of their global classified ads businesses.

In an announcement on Tuesday from both firms, they said that they were addressing Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concerns, which were made public in February, before proceeding with their $9.2bn deal.

Adevinta and eBay proposed to sell each company’s primary classifieds operations in Britain: Shpock, Gumtree and Motors.co.uk.

“The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it considers there are reasonable grounds to believe that the remedies presented by Adevinta and eBay address their concerns,” the companies said in a statement.

Under a deal struck last July, Adevinta will acquire eBay’s classified ads business in return for $2.5bn in cash and 540m shares. It will become Adevinta's largest shareholder with 44% stake and 33.3% of the vote.

eBay will also get two seats on Adevinta’s board.

The companies said on Tuesday that they aim to close the transaction in the second quarter of 2021.