• Transaction / Assets
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Italian RE Portal Immobiliare Acquires Catalan Firm Enalquiler

6 July 2016 – Expansión

The Italian portal Immobiliare.it has completed the purchase of almost 100% of Enalquiler, its Catalan counterpart, from Grupo Intercom, its majority shareholder. Both digital companies are portals specialising in rental housing.

Created ten years ago by Grupo Intercom – itself chaired by Antonio González Barros – Enalquiler employs around 75 people at its headquarters in the centre of Barcelona and at an office in Madrid; it recorded turnover of around €3 million in 2015.

With a catalogue of more than 100,000 homes in Spain, Enalquiler already has a presence in the Italian market, with another 100,000 properties that it manages under the Mioaffitto.it brand, as well as in Mexico, where it operates through the portal Rentamosya.com.

The corporate transaction represents Grupo Intercom’s seventeenth such sale; last year it sold Bodas.net to the US portal WeddingWire.

New player in Spain

The acquisition of Enalquiler, the price of which has not been disclosed, represents the entry of Immobiliare.it into Spain, where it will compete with Fotocasa, Idealista and Hablitaclia, amongst other online platforms.

Regarded as the leading real estate portal in Italy, Immobiliarie.it was created in Milan in 2005 by the entrepreneur Silvio Pagliani and other partners. In June, the portal, which is led by Carlo Giordano, invested €1.5 million in ProntoPro.it, an employment platform for freelancers.

“For Enalquiler, this means it can continue to grow alongside a strategic partner who has complete confidence in us”, said Julio Vasco, founder and President of Enalquiler.

The Catalan company will continue to use the Enalquiler and Mioaffito names: “both brands are recognised in the Spanish and Italian markets; there are no plans to change them”, said Vasco.

Immobiliare has taken control of the majority of Enalquiler, and the firm’s management team retains a small stake. “The rental market has certain needs that are not being covered effectively by the existing portals”, concluded Vasco.

Original story: Expansión (by T. Díaz and J. Orihuel)

Translation: Carmel Drake