Scout24 AG completes sale of AutoScout24

• All closing conditions met
• Cash received
• Focus lies now on ImmoScout24

Munich / Berlin, 1 April 2020 - Scout24 AG announces the closing of the sale of 100% of AutoScout24, FinanceScout24 and Finanzcheck (together “AutoScout24”) to affiliates of Hellman & Friedman.. Control of the carved-out unit of AutoScout24 is transferred to the buyer as of today, 1 April 2020. Scout24 AG confirms receipt of payment of the purchase price, adjusted by net working capital and net debt, in the amount of EUR 2.84bn.

With the closing of the transaction, Scout24 now initiates a large capital return programme as previously announced. This includes repayment of debt in the amount of up to EUR 780 million. Furthermore, besides the proposed dividend payment of EUR 94.3 million, share buybacks in the amount of up to EUR 1.69bn are planned. The first tranche of up to EUR 490 million will start at short notice. 

The divestment of AutoScout24 ends the company’s two verticals strategy and Scout24 will now fully focus on ImmoScout24 to build a comprehensive ecosystem for sale, rent, and commercial real estate in Germany and Austria.

About Scout24

Scout24 is one of the leading digital companies in Germany. With ImmoScout24, an online platform for residential and commercial real estate, we successfully bring together owners, realtors, tenants, and buyers to make complex decisions easy – and we have been doing so for more than 20 years. With around 14 million users per month, ImmoScout24 is the market leader for digital real estate marketing and search. To digitise the process of real estate transactions, ImmoScout24 is continually developing new products and building up an ecosystem for renting, buying, and commercial real estate in Germany. Since 2012, ImmoScout24 has also been active in the Austrian real estate market, reaching around 3 million users monthly.

Media Relations

Jan Flaskamp
Vice President Communications & Marketing
Tel.: +49 30 24301 0721
E-Mail: [email protected]

Investor Relations 

Ursula Querette
Head of Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 89 44456 3278     
E-Mail: [email protected]

Disclaimer

All information contained in this document has been carefully prepared. However, no reliance may be placed for any purposes whatsoever on the information contained in this document or on its completeness. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees or any other person as to the accuracy and/or completeness of the information contained in this document and no liability whatsoever is accepted by the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees nor any other person for any loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of such information or opinions or otherwise arising in connection therewith.

The information contained in this release is subject to amendment, revision and updating. Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this document are forward-looking, which reflect the Company's or, as appropriate, senior management's current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results, including but not limited to the Company's financial position or profitability, to differ materially, also adversely, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Statements contained in this document regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any information contained in this document (including forward-looking statements), whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.

Scout24 also uses alternative performance measures, not defined by IFRS, to describe the Scout24 Group's results of operations. These should not be viewed in isolation, but treated as supplementary information. The special items used to calculate some alternative performance measures arise from the integration of acquired businesses, restructuring measures, impairments, gains or losses resulting from divestitures and sales of shareholdings, and other expenses and income that generally do not arise in conjunction with Scout24's ordinary business activities. Alternative performance measures used by Scout24 are defined in the "Glossary" section of Scout24's Group Management Report 2019 which is available at www.scout24.com/financial-reports.

Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this statement may not add up precisely to the totals indicated, and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures for the same reason. Information on the quarterly financials has not been subject to audit and is thus preliminary.