Global law firm Freshfields is advising Adevinta, the online classifieds business owned among others by Blackstone and Permira, on the sale of its 50% interest in willhaben, Austria’s leading digital consumer marketplace business with more than 13 million listings across real estate, jobs, cars and motors.

The shares will be acquired by the existing joint venture partner, Styria Media Group. Simultaneously, Styria Media Group entered into a strategic partnership with Sprints to jointly own and drive the further development of willhaben. Styria will use funds provided by Sprints in the course of an equity raise for the transaction with Adevinta.

Closing of the transaction is subject to, among others, regulatory approvals in Austria and is expected to occur in Q2/2025.

The Freshfields team is led by Partner Ludwig Hartenau together with Counsel Michal Dobrowolski (both Corporate/M&A, Vienna) and also included:

• Partners: Markus Paul (Private Capital, Frankfurt), Maria Dreher-Lorjé (Antitrust, Competition and Trade, Vienna/Brussels), Katharina Kubik (Tax, Vienna)
• Counsel: Gernot Fritz (Data/Tech, Vienna), Lukas Pomaroli (Foreign Direct Investment, Vienna)
• Principal Associates: Ludwig Pacher-Theinburg (Antitrust, Competition and Trade, Vienna), Andreas Langer (Tax, Vienna)
• Associates: Rebecca Chucholowski (Private Capital, Frankfurt), Tanja Pfleger (Data/Tech, Vienna), Marcel Neuhauser (Foreign Direct Investment, Vienna)

A Freshfields-Team recently advised Adevinta on the sale of Distilled Limited, Ireland’s leading online classifieds company. This followed Freshfields’ role as lead transaction counsel for Permira and Blackstone on the take-private of Adevinta, one of the largest European buyouts announced in 2023.