Brothers Eamonn and Brian Fallon, who founded Dublin property website Daft.ie in 1997, secured almost €240 million in cash and shares from the sale of classifieds group Distilled, according to new company filings.
Dublin-based Blacksheep Fund Management led the November 2024 acquisition of Distilled — the group behind Daft.ie, DoneDeal.ie and Adverts.ie. The headline value of that deal was not disclosed at the time.
Filings by DH Finance Midco Limited, which now controls Distilled, put the transaction at €627.4 million as reported via Companies Registration Office papers covered by The Irish Times (Killian Woods), while Irish Independent reporting put the group valuation at around €624 million. Love Dublin’s account below is based on those filings as reported by both titles — not a reprint of their copy.
How the €240m figure breaks down
The Midco papers describe a deal built around almost €450 million in cash. About €312 million of that cash went to European online classifieds group Adevinta for its 50% stake. Other Distilled stakeholders — including the Fallons — shared the remaining cash pot and, in some cases, shares in the acquiring company’s parent.
The Fallon brothers, through DML Capital, held a combined 38% of Distilled before the sale. Filings indicate they disposed of that interest for €238.9 million in cash and shares — the “almost €240m” figure now circulating from the accounts.
They have not walked away from the business. Each brother now holds 16.66% of the voting shares in the new structure, a combined 33.32%. The book value of that retained stake is put at around €148 million, against Midco net assets of €445.2 million at the end of 2025.
First accounts under Blacksheep
Midco’s first published accounts cover a 13-month period to the end of 2025 — Distilled’s first stretch under the new ownership structure.
Group revenue came in at €64.4 million, with €59.2 million generated in the Republic. The websites employed 173 people and produced a net cash inflow of €17.6 million.
On the profit-and-loss side, the picture is heavily shaped by acquisition accounting. The group recorded an operating loss of €66 million and a pretax loss of almost €80 million. Those losses were driven largely by €81.9 million in depreciation and amortisation plus about €14 million in finance costs on €188.4 million of borrowings — typical of a leveraged buyout period rather than a sudden collapse in trading.
Northern Ireland expansion — and a software bolt-on
The same filings show Distilled pushing north. Acquisitions of PropertyPal and UsedCarsNI were valued at £89.63 million (€104.5 million). In July 2026 the group also took an 80% stake in Eskimo Software for €3 million.
Eamonn Fallon remains chief executive. Distilled was contacted for comment in the Irish Times coverage of the filings.
Why it matters in Dublin
Daft, DoneDeal and Adverts are everyday infrastructure for how Dubliners rent, buy, sell and browse. A €600m-plus valuation for Distilled underlines how valuable Irish classifieds platforms have become — and how concentrated ownership of that digital “high street” now is.
For Dublin readers, the retained Fallon stake also matters. The founders who built Daft as students still sit with a third of the votes in the new Midco structure, alongside Blacksheep’s lead role since late 2024.
Love Dublin will keep watching how the group balances acquisition costs with the cash the platforms continue to generate. Related reading: Dublin MetroLink’s updated cost range — another major capital story shaping the capital’s next decade.
Based on Companies Registration Office / DH Finance Midco filings as reported by The Irish Times (Killian Woods) and the Irish Independent. Figures attributed to those reports; prose original to Love Dublin.
