Australian property listing firm REA Group said on Monday it had sweetened its takeover offer for Rightmove to 6.1 billion pounds ($8.12 billion), after Britain’s largest real estate portal rejected its two earlier proposals.
The latest offer implies a value of 770 pence per Rightmove share and consists of 341 pence in cash and 0.0422 new REA shares.
This is higher than the initial offer of 705 pence per share, or 5.6 billion pounds, and the second proposal of 749 pence for share. Rightmove had rejected both the offers, saying they undervalued the company.
“It (the new offer) provides a combination of immediate value certainty in cash and at the same time gives Rightmove shareholders an increasing opportunity in core digital property and adjacencies,” REA CEO Owen Wilson said in a statement.
Britain’s housing market is triple the size of Australia’s, according to analysts, and a deal would allow REA to expedite its growth in lucrative international markets.
REA, majority owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp NWSA.O, said it had not had any “substantive engagement” with Rightmove, except for the rejections, and that it remained ready to engage immediately with the Rightmove board.
The Australian company reiterated that it would look to apply for a secondary listing in London to give it access to a wider pool of investors.
Rightmove did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal UK business hours.
Reuters
