Hellman & Friedman acquires Scout24 for €1.5bn

The transaction involves around €1.5bn of equity and values the Scout24 group at approximately €2bn. The telecommunications company will continue to hold a 30% stake in the German firm.

Deutsche Telekom undertook a strategic review of Scout24 over the last few months, looking at various exit routes for its portfolio firm. The firm looked for external investors able to increase Scout24's capital, enabling Scout24 to grow further, a Deutsche Telekom spokesperson said. Various private equity firms reportedly started to circle Scout24 from January onwards, after Deutsche Telekom made Scout24's review public in December 2012. German publisher Axel Springer was also reported to have been bidding for Scout24.

T-Online International (later merged with Deutsche Telekom) bought Scout24 from entrepreneur Otto Beisheim's Beisheim Holding Schweiz in 2004, which had invested in the young company six years earlier. 

Company
Scout24 constitutes: real estate online market platform ImmobilienScout24 (launched 1999); car-selling online platform AutoScout24 (launched 1999); online dating website FriendScout24, finance comparison portal FinanceScout24, and human resources and vacancies website JobScout24 (each lauched in 2000); and online travel comparison platform TravelScout24 (launched in 2002).

The company, which has around 13 million users every month, was founded in 1998 by Christian Mangstl and Joachim Schoss. Scout24's platforms are available in 22 countries. It is based in Munich.

People
René Obermann is CEO of Deutsche Telekom. Timotheus Höttges is Deutsche Telekom's CFO. Patrick Healy is deputy chairman of Hellman & Friedman. Martin Enderle is Scout24's CEO.

Advisers
Vendor – Goldman Sachs (Corporate finance); Jefferies (Corporate finance); Hengeler Mueller (Legal).

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