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EQT is exploring a takeover of €10bn German car marketplace Mobile.de, raising the prospect that the private equity-backed business will be sold rather than publicly listed.
The Swedish buyout group has held preliminary discussions with Permira and Blackstone, who led the consortium that bought Mobile.de’s parent company two years ago, according to people familiar with the matter, who cautioned that deliberations remained in early stages.
Mobile.de is a unit of European classifieds group Adevinta, which is being broken up by its new owners. EQT this year acquired Adevinta’s Spanish classifieds business.
Permira and Blackstone have also been exploring a Frankfurt listing for Mobile.de.
Adevinta was spun out of Norwegian media group Schibsted in 2019, and a year later merged with eBay’s classifieds business to create the world’s largest online classifieds ads group.
Permira and Blackstone, along with General Atlantic and TCV, led the acquisition of the Oslo-listed group in 2023 in a €14bn enterprise value deal.
EQT declined to comment. Blackstone and Permira did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
