globrix.com Joins TDPG

homesandproperty.co.uk may have left The Digital Property Group’s network, but there is already something to take its place: UK property search engine globrix.com.

Associated Northcliffe Digital (AND), the digital consumer division of Daily Mail and General Trust, has acquired 50 percent of globrix.com. This acquisition comes after globrix.com’s founders bought back News International’s 50 percent stake in the business in December 2009. The terms of the deal with AND were not disclosed.

AND says it will support the management of globrix.com to extend its technology platform into other classified vertical markets, and to provide fully hosted portals to international media partners.

globrix.com already powers globrix.ie through its partnership with Independent Newspapers Ireland, and a statement on behalf of the search engine says it is in discussions with “a number of other parties internationally”.

TDPG says it plans to make significant investments in globrix.com and emphasises that it will remain free-to-list.

TDPG quotes comScore figures to show that the addition of globrix.com to its network, which also includes primelocation.com, findaproperty.com, and findanewhome.com, will bring its total monthly unique visitors numbers to 2.5 million.

If this estimate is correct, it places TDPG’s unique visitor total on par with that of rightmove.co.uk, which had 2,218,000 unique visitors in December and 2,614,000 in November 2009, according to Nielsen.

According to The Negotiator, globrix.com CEO Daniel Lee will be stepping down to run a software enterprise in which AND has an investment.

“[I]t was important for me to work with a partner who recognised the importance of globrix as a free-to-list portal and continue to support its incredible growth,” Lee said in a statement. “I am also excited to be partnering with AND, who are perfectly placed to support our evolution to become the key trusted technology partner for media companies worldwide.”

Mark Milner, CEO of TDPG, had this to say about the deal:

“It is important that I immediately stress that globrix.com will remain a free-to-list portal. The addition of globrix.com to the TDPG network is indicative of our desire to offer agents and consumers a compelling proposition – together, we will have the most complete inventory in the market and continue our drive to offer consumers, estate agents and developers a unique solution.

It will also help us towards our ambition of having a relationship with every agent in the land – and it gives agents with no previous experience of advertising with TDPG exposure to our breadth of consumer and agent services, such as Insight. Importantly, those TDPG customers not currently feeding to globrix.com can also now access this additional channel.”

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