5/17/2019 12:00:00 AM | less than a minute read

OYO buys German-based vacation homes group for $415 million

Howard Kennedy

Indian hospitality group OYO has bought a self-catering home rentals business in continental Europe, possibly as a nod to its recent investor, Airbnb. OYO has acquired @Leisure Group (and the "@" is part of its name) from Axel Springer for about $415 million (£326 million).

Alex Springer is also one of German's biggest news media publishers, the company behind the tabloid popular newspaper Bild Zeitung and the broadsheet daily Die Welt.

I can vouch for the quality of one of the acquired brands, Danland, having stayed with my family to the brilliant Danland family village in Karrebæksminde in Denmark.

OYO, the fast-growing budget hotel startup out of India that’s backed by Airbnb, SoftBank, Grab and Didi, has made an acquisition to expand its footprint into Europe, specifically around self-catering home rentals. The company has picked up @Leisure Group from Axel Springer for about $415 million (€369.5 million). @Leisure (the @ is a part of its name) ... operates through various sub-brands, including Belvilla, DanCenter, Danland and Traum-Ferienwohnungen, and last year it posted Ebitda of more than €24 million, Axel Springer said.

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