India’s online hotel room booking app OYO has acquired Amsterdam-based vacation rental company Leisure Group from Axel Springer for an estimated $ 415 million (over ₹ 2,885 crore).
The acquisition will help OYO in realising its vision of becoming a global real estate brand while maintaining leadership in the hospitality industry.
Leisure Group is a leading vacation rental company in Europe and manages holiday homes, holiday parks and holiday apartments.
As part of the deal, Leisure Group CEO Tobias Wann will join OYO’s leadership group as CEO, Vacation Homes, OYO Global, the statement said.
Commenting on the development, OYO founder & Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal 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 and we are excited to continue maintaining our global industry leadership“.
Leisure Group would help to develop Europe as a vacation rentals hotspot and OYO is keen to leverage its competencies in ensuring beautiful vacation rental and urban homes experience for millions of tourists from across the world, he added.
In similar vein, OYO’s Global Chief Strategy Officer Maninder Gulati said, “ 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.”
Through this acquisition, the size and scale of the opportunity can be unlocked immediately for OYO’s Homes business, he added.