OYO to buy Amsterdam-based vacation rental company @Leisure for Rs 2,880 cr

The deal with @Leisure Group will give Oyo access to a total inventory of 300,000 rooms across Europe

OYO is set to acquire Amsterdam-based vacation rental company @Leisure Group from Axel Springer for about 370 million euros, or Rs 2,885 crore, in one of the biggest acquisitions of a foreign firm by an Indian unicorn. The transaction is expected to close by next month.
 

SoftBank-backed OYO, which is trying to establish bases in Europe, the UK and the US, has been in talks with @Leisure over the past six months. This acquisition would help OYO move a step closer to realising its vision of becoming a global real estate brand while maintaining leadership in the hospitality industry, the company said in a statement.

@Leisure, through its Belvilla, DanCenter, and Danland brands, offers more than 30,000 fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe. Its Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand offers a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries. This represents a total inventory of 300,000 rooms. Europe will be OYO’s largest market, accounting for up to 40 per cent of supply.

Ritesh Agarwal, who founded OYO as a 19-year-old in 2013, said: “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,” 

“We are excited to continue maintaining our global industry leadership. @Leisure has proven capabilities in helping develop Europe into a vacation rentals hotspot. It is a business decision closely aligned with our overall mission that has incredible potential,” he said. 

In March, diversifying from the hotel and long-term lodging business to co-working spaces, OYO acquired Innov8. Sources said OYO spent between Rs 150 crore and Rs 200 crore for the acquisition.

OYO aims to open more than 35 new co-working spaces in major metropolitans over the next one year. It has also started two new co-working brands — PowerStation and WorkFlo — that will cater to a variety of start-ups and companies. OYO also has plans to provide affordable office and workstation spaces to companies. The company has already made an expansion plan for the whole year.

Globally, OYO is present in over 500 cities across 10 countries and hosts millions of guests in over 18,000 hotels and homes in 515,000 rooms. The company’s sales in December stood at $1.8 billion, growing roughly at 4.3x year-on-year.

The company claims to be the world’s sixth-biggest hotel brand by room numbers.