Australian property group REA is to buy a 35 per cent stake in Daft.ie owner Distilled in a deal worth an estimated €248 million.
The company said the purchase of the minority stake would be funded from debt and existing cash reserves.
Distilled Media, which was founded by brothers Eamonn and Brian Fallon, includes property portals Daft.ie and PropertyPal, classified ads site Adverts.ie, and car marketplaces Used Cars NI and DoneDeal.ie.
Irish-based investment manager Blacksheep Fund Management led an acquisition of the listings group in 2024.
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“This is an exciting opportunity to extend our core property strategy into an attractive, profitable, high-growth market, with increasing adoption of vendor-paid advertising and where our intellectual property and technology is directly relevant,” said REA chief executive, Cameron McIntyre.
“The investment provides immediate exposure to an exceptional business with a strong growth trajectory and a portfolio of high-growth assets.”
The deal, which must clear regulatory hurdles, is expected to close before the end of the year.
Chief executive Eamonn Fallon will continue to lead the business and will retain, along with Brian Fallon, a “meaningful” holding following the deal. Asked for details, the company said it does not comment on individual shareholdings.
“REA is a natural partner for Distilled, combining leadership in digital marketplaces with capabilities that can support our growth,” he said. “There are clear opportunities for collaboration, and we look forward to tapping into REA’s experience to create new value for customers, consumers and partners.”
Recent Companies Registration Office filings revealed that Blacksheep’s deal for Distilled was valued at €627.4 million.
The transaction consisted of almost €450 million in cash, with €312 million of that sum paid to European online classifieds group Adevinta, which had owned 50 per cent of Distilled. Adevinta was a spin-off of Norwegian classified group, Schibsted, which acquired a 50 per cent stake in Distilled in 2015, merging it with its DoneDeal.ie platform.
The Fallons shared almost €240 million from the Blacksheep deal, which was “settled in part by cash consideration and part in exchange for shares”, according to the filings.
The deal also reduced the brothers’ combined stake in the group from around 38 per cent to 16.66 per cent.
In response to questions from The Irish Times last week, the Fallons said: “We love building this business, and we’re focused on continuing to grow it over the long term. With the support of our strategic partners, we see plenty of runway ahead, and we’ll keep investing in the platforms and the people behind them.”
Distilled also owns around 13 per cent of the shares in Journal Media, the online news platform the brothers established in 2010, according to its most recent annual return.
The Fallons continue to hold a controlling stake in that business through their company, DML Capital.
The Irish Times reported in 2024 that the Fallons were in talks to sell The Journal and the42.ie to Irish Independent publisher, Mediahuis. It was understood at the time that the Business Post, then controlled by Galway businessman Enda O’Coineen’s Kilcullen Kapital Partners, was an underbidder for the business in a sales process being run in-house by Journal Media, the parent of the news brands.
However, the deal, said to be valued in the low single-digit millions, was later called off.
