IENS has been acquired by TripAdvisor

January 2015 — The shareholders of IENS, the largest Dutch online restaurant review and booking platform, have sold the company to TripAdvisor.

Founded in 1998, IENS is the largest online restaurant review guide in the Netherlands, with 20 million annual visitors and a network of 20,000 restaurants, of which 1,550 are bookable through its sister brand SeatMe. The site features 200,000 restaurant reviews and receives 4,000 new reviews every week.

TripAdvisor is the largest online travel community in the world, offering travel and entertainment-related reviews. The company has more than 300 million unique monthly visitors and more than 200 million reviews covering accommodations, restaurants and attractions worldwide. The site operates in 45 countries.

The integration of the company is being led by the management team of LaFourchette, a prominent restaurant reservation platform in France, Spain and Switzerland that TripAdvisor acquired in May 2014. This latest acquisition of IENS is in line with TripAdvisor’s strategy to further accelerate its growth and geographical footprint in the restaurant review and reservation space in Europe. Financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

Our role in the transaction

Oaklins' team in the Netherlands originated the deal and acted as the lead advisor to IENS’ shareholders. Oaklins' digital media specialist team in New York played an important role in approaching the potential buyers and maintaining a continuous dialogue with them. This deal is another example of seamless cooperation between Oaklins' teams, demonstrating the organization’s added value through its global execution capabilities, industry expertise and contacts.