A new Swiss leader is born! TX Group, Ringier, La Mobilière and General Atlantic are creating a joint venture in the fields of real estate, vehicles, financial services and general marketplaces. Their long-term goal is to go public.
A month ago, TX Group, Ringier, Mobiliar and General Atlantic decided to join forces and resources by creating a joint venture. Its name is not yet known.
Each of the parties has brought its own specialised platforms in the areas of real estate, vehicles, financial services or general marketplaces:
- The Ricardo, tutti, Homegate and Car For You platforms are being brought in by TX Group.
- Ringier and Mobiliar are contributing the Scout24 Switzerland group, which includes the platforms ImmoScout24, AutoScout24, MotoScout24, FinanceScout24 and anibis.
- The latter, the international growth investor General Atlantic, offers many years of experience in the field of digital marketplaces worldwide.
However, the four shareholders have different stakes in the joint venture. TX Group AG holds 31%, Ringier AG and La Mobilière 29.5% each and General Atlantic only 10%. They each have 25% of the voting rights.
Organisation
The CEO of this new large digital company is Mr. Gilles Depas. He is currently the CEO of the Scout24 Switzerland Group. Prior to this, he was Chief Digital Officer and Group Chief Marketing Officer of Thomas Cook in London, as well as Managing Director and CEO of Ebookers and HolidayCheck.
Mr Lothar Lanz was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors. An expert in finance and digital technology, he also wears several hats. He is currently Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Home24, Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TAG Immobilien AG and a member of the Supervisory Board of Dermapharm. Previously, he was a member of the supervisory board of Zalando (chairman) and Axel Springer, as well as CFO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media for many years.
The other members of the Board of Directors will be: Joern Nikolay, Olivier Rihs, Michèle Rodoni, Pietro Supino and Marc Walder.
Growth
In recent years, the marketplaces of TX Group, Rin-gier and Mobiliar have experienced strong growth, especially in terms of the number of users and the offers they provide. It is surprising that it is becoming very difficult for these platforms to evolve nowadays. Indeed, the clientele is more and more demanding and the international competition is developing at high speed. This makes the market dynamic.
The four parties hope that by forming one of the largest digital companies in Switzerland, they will be able to "create a competitive offer and thus be a pioneer in the Swiss market".
Questions
The players in all these affected areas are nevertheless concerned about the merger. A market leader can turn everything upside down and leads to several reflections. Large companies tend to be less sensitive and less flexible with their customers, because there is no longer this proximity. We wonder whether the quality of their services will be there. Or will prices rise sharply? By dominating 85% of the market, they know that they have the monopole and can play with this. Finally, there are some questions about the data stored. Will it ever be used against estate agents?
In conclusion, this merger carries risks of domination and exposes landlords, tenants, vendors, etc. to a decrease in market access, as well as competitiveness. On the other hand, it pushes all actors to innovate and improve!
To learn more about the consequences, we recommend you to read this article:
Statement of position, The Branch, 21.09.2021
Sources:
La Mobilière - presse release, 31.08.21
Blick - article, 31.08.21
