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Case Study

Immostreet: Building an online pan-European real estate franchise

By Benoit F. Leleux and Henri Bourgeois

19 pages

September 2003

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Reference: IMD-3-1287

In August 1999, Ludovic Bonneton created ImmoStreet, a French property portal company. The case initially follows the fast growth of ImmoStreet and its major investor, the Internet investment fund Europ@web. Through an ambitious program of acquisitions and strategic partnerships, Immostreet gradually built a European franchise of real estate portals. After the burst of the Internet bubble in March 2000 and an 80% loss in the value of its portfolio, Europ@web switched from an investment strategy to a program of assets sales. The case ends when Europ@web announced to Van Steenbrugge, ImmoStreet new CEO, that he had two months to either find alternative financing routes or close the company. Participants are then asked to consider the remaining options of Van Steenbrugge: align with Europ@web and downsize Immostreet, find an acquirer for their international subsidiaries or close a deal with a new strategic partner.

Keywords

Internet, Online Real Estate

Settings

Europe
June 2001

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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