News Corp Increases Stake in REA Group
October 29, 2008 by Simon Baker
News Limited, the Australian subsidiary of News Corp, has increased its stake in realestate.com.au Ltd to 60.7%.
News Limited purchased 3m shares in realestate.com.au Ltd (known as the REA Group) at $4.50 per share from the second largest shareholder, the White family (owners of Ray White Real Estate – Australia’s largest real estate group). The White family’s stake has now reduced to 10.8%.
In a statement released to the market today, Sam White of the Ray White Group said “In effect we have sold about 20% of our holdings in the REA Group to raise capital to fund emerging opportunities that exist in a number of market segments in which we operate. Even after the sale we remain a significant shareholder in the REA Group.”
No comment was made by News Limited as to its intentions. In August 2005 News Limited made a failed take over bid for the REA Group.
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Is this a precursor to another Newscorp takeover attempt or just a case of an opportunistic purchase of a large parcel of stock that Ray White wanted to offload?
It’s interesting that Ray White have kept just over 10%, that would prevent compulsory aquistion by News in the event of a takeover.
Ray White dumping another 1.5m units on the market today. The plot thickens.
Perhaps not so much a plot, but careful positioning.
With the AGM coming up, extra voting power for News can only be a good thing to protect their investment.
Who on the board is up for re-election?
However, if it was just Ray White which was selling shares then the movements seem like corporate maneuvering. However other large shareholders (not large in comparison to RW and News) are selling their shares.
So the question begs, what other variables than corporate maneuvering and market fluctuations are inciting the sell?