Boats Group Acquires French Marketplace, Annonces du Bateau

MIAMI, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Boats Group, the tech business behind the largest online marketplaces for boats and yachts in the world (Boat Trader, YachtWorld, boats.com, Cosas De Barcos and iNautia), today announced they have purchased Annonces du Bateau and all its assets from CarBoat Media. Annonces du Bateau is a leading boat sales marketplace in France and provides Boats Group with greater access to one of the largest boating marketplaces in the world.

"France is an enormously important market in the global leisure marine industry, and the acquisition of Annonces du Bateau – a business with a long tradition of delivering digital excellence in France – will accelerate our growth in Europe," said Sam Fulton, CEO, Boats Group. "We look forward to welcoming the customers of Annonces du Bateau and providing them with leading customer service, as well as an expanded range of products that are proven to help the industry sell more boats."

Boats Group now begins a substantial technical and marketing investment in Annonces du Bateau, starting with a new, feature-rich platform that will debut later this year. Already, Annonces du Bateau connects a large audience of boat buyers with brokers, dealers and manufacturers throughout France, and the coming technology developments will modernize and enhance the user experience.

For the boating industry professionals who currently market their business offerings on Annonces du Bateau, this acquisition provides new access to the international marketplace. The Boats Group-owned-and-operated YachtWorld, Cosas De Barcos and iNautia portals drive boat sales throughout Europe, and Annonces du Bateau customers in France now have the option to add their inventory to any of the Boats Group marketplaces that best suit their needs.

"We are very pleased to announce this agreement with Boats Group," said Francois Couffy, CEO, CarBoat Media. "We are confident that our customers will experience best-in-class service and benefit from the technology investments and expanded market opportunities that Boats Group offers."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. To learn more about Boats Group, visit: www.boatsgroup.com. 

About Boats Group
Boats Group's brands - YachtWorld, Boat Trader, boats.com, Cosas De Barcos, iNautia, and Annonces du Bateau - are the largest online marketplaces for boats and yachts in the world and have been partners in the boating industry for nearly 20 years. Boats Group also provides marine businesses with a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions, including advertising, lead generation, CRM, website design and hosting. Additionally, Boats Group supports brokers and dealers by providing brokerage services through its YachtCloser contract management solution, and BoatWizard, the industry's leading inventory management system and MLS. With more than 12 million visitors per month across its platforms, Boats Group is recognized as the marine industry's marketplace authority. Boats Group is headquartered in Miami, Florida, United States, with additional operations in Fareham, England, Padova, Italy and Barcelona, Spain. Boats Group is owned by Apax Partners. For more information, visit www.boatsgroup.com. 

SOURCE Boats Group