Hungarian ownership has been established over Használtautó.hu and Jófogás following a coordinated acquisition, with the founders of Ingatlan.com Ltd and Extreme Digital purchasing them from the Norwegian parent company. This acquisition creates a Hungarian online group capable of competing with increasingly active regional, overseas, and Far Eastern players in the domestic market.
Following the acquisition of Adevinta Classified Media Hungary, the Használtautó.hu and Jófogás marketplaces will continue their operations within the Ingatlan.com Ltd corporate group, which is in fully Hungarian ownership.
After the transaction’s closure, a unique corporate group with two management centres will be established within ingatlan.com Ltd. One of these will be under the leadership of CEO of Ingatlan.com, József Keleti, responsible for Használtautó.hu and Autónavigátor.hu. Balázs Várkonyi and Gyula Kelemen, founders of Extreme Digital and the former leaders of Vatera.hu, who separated from the eMAG corporate group earlier this summer, will oversee the development and expansion of Jófogás.
As there are few Hungarian-owned platforms among the top ten most popular online marketplaces in Hungary, the acquisition of Jófogás and Használtautó.hu, along with the previous Hungarian ownership of Vatera.hu, could mark a significant milestone in the history of Hungarian e-commerce. This development is significant as
it can set a precedent for the success of local management compared to international players on such community platforms.
Commenting on the acquisition, Dávid Mészáros, the founder and owner of Ingatlan.com Ltd, said: ‘The most significant advertising portals rarely change hands, and most of the time, they are acquired by multinational giants from Hungarian founders. Therefore, the fact that these two enormous portals have returned to Hungarian hands is a historic moment. These popular online marketplaces were in competition with numerous multinational giants. The model emerging in such community platforms worldwide is that local management is more successful than international management. We believe that with local market knowledge, Hungarian passion, and excellent Hungarian colleagues, there is ample room for development, innovation, and world-class work. I believe we have taken a big step forward, and the biggest winners of this are our customers, business partners, and our current and future colleagues.’
The new Hungarian owners aim to protect their users by already having local customer service for Jófogás, Vatera.hu, Használtautó.hu, and Ingatlan.com marketplaces in place. They plan to compete with global players with world-class operations driven by a local touch and understanding of the market. The Ingatlan.com portfolio also includes Money.hu, a site that compares banking, financial, and insurance products, which complements the marketplaces.
The acquisition of Adevinta’s Hungarian subsidiary was supported by the Baross Gábor New Industrialization Credit Programme, a state-sponsored, low-interest loan programme.
‘The return of the well-known online brands, Jófogás and Vatera, offers an opportunity to further develop the marketplaces where millions of sellers and buyers connect directly every day. We consider it an important challenge and a significant task to strengthen Hungarian individuals and small to medium-sized business sellers with a competitive domestic platform,’ added Balázs Várkonyi, co-founder of Extreme Digital, CEO of the division operating the Vatera.hu and Jófogás marketplaces within Ingatlan.com Ltd, and the company’s newly minted investor.
‘We are pleased to have found a new local owner, Ingatlan.com Ltd, with significant market experience in Hungary. The completion of the sale of our Hungarian marketplace businesses represents another important milestone in optimizing our portfolio and executing our strategy, while continuing to focus on our five core European markets,’ Antoine Jouteau, President and CEO of Adevinta, the parent company commented on the sale.
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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/Eurolex
