OLX Brasil Purchases Zap Group for Approximately R$2.9 Billion

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – OLX Brasil, a major platform for the sale of new and used items, has just purchased the premium platform of Zap Group to strengthen its position in the country’s real estate market. The deal values the Zap Group at approximately R$2.9 billion (US$640 million).

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year. If approved, real estate will become OLX’s main business category. It is currently second, behind automobiles.

The Zap Group was looking for a round of investments, but the two companies agreed to negotiate the purchase. Negotiation began in April of 2019.

The new company is still studying how the two brands will operate. However, it is known that it will target the private market for the purchase and sale of real estate.

The two companies are complementary. While Zap features a premium profile, OLX is wide-ranging, with more distinctive profile products, mainly in small and medium-sized cities.

The Zap Group has 8.3 million advertised properties and gets 230,000 searches per hour, 50 million visits every month. In 2018, the ZAP Group reported net revenues of R$217 million and an EBITDA of R$18 million, with an average of 28 million visits per month in 2019.

The group was founded in 2017 as a result of the merger of Zap and Viva Real, both real estate purchase and sale websites.

The Zap Group’s history began in 2001, with the foundation of Planeta Imóvel, the country’s pioneering real estate classifieds website. In the same year, the platform was acquired by O Globo and O Estado de S.Paulo groups – in 2012, Infoglobo bought Grupo Estado’s stake.

The name Zap emerged in 2007. Viva Real emerged in Colombia in 2009 and in 2013 became a fully Brazilian company.