OYO Hotels to acquire Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group

OYO Hotels & Homes, the world's sixth-largest chain of hotels, homes, and living spaces, on Wednesday said it has agreed to acquire Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group, a vacation rental company in Europe, which manages holiday homes, holiday parks, and holiday apartments for an undisclosed amount. OYO will acquire @Leisure from Axel Springer, a media and technology company, for nearly €369 million or $416 million, according to a person close to the transaction, who did not wish to be identified.

The transaction is expected to close in June and will be OYO’s largest acquisition till date.

Axel Springer will focus more on the activities of the StepStone Group and AVIV Group in the classifieds media segment in the future. Hence, it is selling its majority interest in the @Leisure Group to OYO. The total volume of the transaction has an Ebitda multiple of more than 15 for the year 2018, Axel Springer said in a statement.

@Leisure Group, through its Belvilla, DanCenter, and Danland brands, offers more than 30,000-fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe. Through its Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand, the company offers a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries. This represents a total inventory of more than 300,000 rooms. @Leisure Group has the ability to offer varied collections of managed homes across Europe to customers from across the world. The acquisition, thus, helps OYO move a step closer to realising its vision of becoming a global real estate brand while maintaining leadership in the hospitality industry.

@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.

“With Europe spearheading the vacation and urban home rental trend globally, @Leisure Group is uniquely positioned to capitalise on its experience and insights aided with OYO’s full-stack approach towards building the world’s largest global vacation rentals business. If one were to look at Europe alone, there is an ever-increasing demand for vacation homes with an increasing trend of booking an entire home. Further, in such a market of largely fragmented small and independent players, and a handful of established players, of which @Leisure Group is one of the largest, we feel travelers will be excited with what @Leisure Group can offer. Through this acquisition, the size and scale of the opportunity can be immediately unlocked for OYO’s Homes business. Today, more than 2.8 million holidaymakers from over 118 countries book their holiday every year with @Leisure Group. The combined strength of both brands can scale the opportunity multi-fold,” OYO’s global chief strategy officer Maninder Gulati said in a statement.

OYO was founded in 2013 and since then it has grown to over 18,000 franchised and leased hotels worldwide, spanning over 10 countries and more than 500 cities. OYO is backed by leading investors, including the SoftBank Group, Sequoia India, Lightspeed India, and China Lodging Group, among others.

“Last year it (@Leisure Group) achieved a record Ebitda of more than €24 million. For OYO Hotels & Homes, it is thus a perfect platform for driving forward further consolidation in this segment,” said Andreas Wiele, president, Classifieds Media Axel Springer SE, in a statement.