OYO to Acquire Amsterdam-Based @Leisure Group

Main Photo: An @Leisure home rental

Date: May 2019

Location: 13 countries in Europe

Name: Belvilla, DanCenter and Danland brands

No. of Keys: 30,000 fully-managed holiday homes

Seller: Axel Springer, the media and technology German company via it’s @Leisure brand

Buyer: OYO Hotels & Homes, the world’s 6th largest chain of hotels, homes, and living spaces – today announced that it has agreed to acquire Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group.

Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & Group CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes, Tobias Wann, CEO @Leisure, and Maninder Gulati, Global Chief Strategy Officer, OYO Hotels & Homes, signed the deal

Through its Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand, @Leisure offers a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries.

This represents a total inventory of 300k+ rooms. @Leisure Group has the ability to offer varied collections of managed homes across Europe to customers from across the world.

The acquisition helps OYO move a step closer in realising its vision of becoming a global real estate brand while maintaining leadership in the hospitality industry.

Commenting on the acquisition, OYO’s Global Chief Strategy Officer, Maninder Gulati said, “I would like to commend @Leisure Group’s team for the incredible work they have done to bring wonderful and memorable living experiences to travellers around the world by offering beautiful holiday homes, cottages and holiday parks, in 300+ cities across Europe stretching all the way from Kokelv, Norway to Zahara de los Atunes, Spain.

With @Leisure Group, its team and capabilities, we see OYO further its mission of creating quality living experiences for everyday travellers.

The strategic rationale for OYO behind this deal is threefold:

1. Globally, Homes presents OYO with a massive opportunity of US$ 2 trillion+ across 100 mn+ homes covering vacation rentals and urban homes. Europe is the largest market accounting for 30-40% of this total supply.
2. @Leisure Group is among the very few companies in the world with an OYO-like full-stack approach to vacation rentals management, having built deep data-driven capabilities in revenue management, homeowner engagement, and property management services.
3. @Leisure Group’s management team led by Tobias Wann, an experienced vacation rental professional, is one of the finest in the business with a growth-driven mindset grounded in financial discipline and prudence, which is evident in the profitable growth of the business historically.

Through this acquisition, the size and scale of the opportunity can be immediately unlocked for OYO’s Homes business. Today, more than 2.8 mn holidaymakers from over 118 countries book their holiday every year with @Leisure Group. The combined strength of both brands can scale the opportunity multifold.

Tobias Wann, CEO, @Leisure Group, will join OYO’s leadership group as CEO, Vacation Homes, OYO Global, and will work with me to turn OYO’s home business into a global by-word for vacation and urban home rentals.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & Group CEO, OYO added, “We see vacation homes as a unique opportunity with 115,000 units of homes now getting added to our already growing count of beautiful homes and we are excited to continue maintaining our global industry leadership.

Our focus, however, will remain to be a beloved consumer brand that has the ability to create a perfect space in every place. The @Leisure Group is a great partner and we are excited to broad base their offerings. @Leisure Group has proven capabilities in helping develop Europe into a vacation rentals hotspot and we are keen to leverage their competencies towards ensuring beautiful vacation rental and urban homes experience for millions of tourists from every part of the world.

I am particularly thrilled to welcome Tobias and team into the OYO family. It is a business decision closely aligned with our overall mission that has incredible potential.”

Andreas Wiele, President Classifieds Media Axel Springer SE, said, “@Leisure Group has become one of the best integrated holiday home providers in just four years under the excellent leadership of Tobias Wann and his colleagues.

Last year it achieved a record EBITDA of more than EUR 24 million. For this, my thanks go to Tobias and his colleagues. For OYO Hotels & Homes, it is thus a perfect platform for driving forward further consolidation in this segment. Axel Springer can now fully concentrate on the further growth of StepStone Group and AVIV Group in the Classifieds segment.”

Price: US$415m

THPT Comment: Interesting this deal is done in the same week that Marriott launches it’s Homes & Villas programme.

First Seen: New Indian Express

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