La Centrale is a leading motor classifieds platform in France

“La Centrale strengthens our lifestyle ecommerce ecosystem in Europe and highlights our commitment to invest in the people and platforms shaping the future of ecommerce in the region. La Centrale will expand our footprint into one of Europe’s most dynamic technology markets and unlock new opportunities to innovate, scale and deliver even greater value to consumers and partners through AI. I expect to invest more in AI technology in France.”

Fabricio Bloisi, CEO of Prosus

OLX Group (“OLX”), a global online classifieds leader wholly-owned by Prosus, announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire La Centrale, a leading French autos classifieds platform, from Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. for EUR1.1 billion. Closing is expected by year-end, subject to a customary employee consultation process.

OLX operates fast-growing and highly profitable online marketplaces for motors, real estate, jobs and goods, with 29 million monthly users in eight countries, primarily in Central and Eastern Europe. The acquisition marks OLX’s entry into Western Europe and France’s structurally attractive autos market.

La Centrale is recognised as France’s most specialised autos platform, with strength in higher-value vehicles and deep trust among sellers and consumers.

The transaction combines two proven leaders in classifieds, strengthening OLX’s European autos portfolio in a compelling and attractive market while bringing on a strong leadership team to help build Prosus’s ambition to become the leading European ecommerce ecosystem.

The Case for OLX + La Centrale

• Strengthens OLX’s European motors portfolio: La Centrale is a leading French vertical motors classifieds platform with strong brand recognition and scale (c.4.5 million monthly unique visitors and ~350k listings), which complements OLX’s leading motors portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe, comprising 4 brands spanning 5 markets.
• A compelling market opportunity: The French car market is healthy and resilient, with solid growth potential in the dealer segment. The ongoing shift of the used cars market towards professional sellers presents significant upside as the dealership landscape matures and consolidates. Professional dealers currently account for ~36% of used car sales, compared with ~70% in Germany, and the average value per dealer transaction sits below European benchmarks. At the same time, margins on new cars are tightening, EV adoption is reshaping supply, and consumers are increasingly turning to trusted digital platforms for transparency and choice. Classifieds platforms like La Centrale are well-positioned
  to capture this opportunity by connecting professional sellers with a growing
  pool of value-conscious buyers.
• Backs a strong leadership team: La Centrale’s leadership has revitalised the brand in recent years. It has undergone a successful restructuring, strengthening its technology, user experience and overall market position, closing ground with its competitors. This led to an improved financial performance, with classifieds revenues growing at a 12% CAGR.
• Enhances Prosus’s European ecosystem strategy: Prosus is building the leading
  European technology ecosystem, which will lead in consumer platforms and AI.
  Our ecosystem approach will drive user engagement and customer loyalty, strengthen AI capabilities, and help to optimise costs for our businesses. Prosus’s investment in AI is already reinventing ecommerce, from intelligent dispatching to hyper-personalised ordering, and we’re building Large Commerce Models – AI systems, which are the new operating systems for ecommerce. Following on the heels of Prosus’s planned acquisition of Just Eat Takeaway.com, La Centrale further strengthens Prosus’s European ambition.

Prosus values the Ghost Mail reader base and has thus included the entire announcement below for ease of reference. You can also get more information here.

Please note that as always, I have included my views on this transaction in Ghost Bites.