Relaunch For thehomesmine.co.uk

The Manchester Evening News owned property portal, thehomesmine.co.uk, is relaunching alongside a heavyweight marketing campaign across GMG channels.
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Interview with Mark Goddard – Group MD of GMG Property Services

Last month I had the chance to meet with Mark Goddard, the Group Managing Director for the Property Services Division. We chatted about a number of his businesses including Thinkproperty and Vebra. Today, it was announced that GMG had sold thinkproperty.com to the highly acquisitive Zoopla.

Recently we published an interview with Alex Chesterman from Zoopla.   Zoopla are also in the process of acquiring Propertyfinder.com.

Check out the interview.

zoopla.co.uk Acquires thinkproperty.com

Not only is zoopla.co.uk rumoured to be in negotiations to purchase REA Group owned propertyfinder.com, but the UK property portal and property information website has announced today that it has acquired thinkproperty.com from Guardian Media Group (GMG) for an undisclosed sum.
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Propertyfinder MBO Fails But …

The much talked about management buyout of propertfinder.com in the UK has failed however a new mystery buyer has emerged. In a late announcement on the ASX, the REA Group & News International have entered into a non-binding heads of agreement for the potential sale of their UK online business.

Internal sources say there were three “very detailed and strong bids” however the while the existing management put in a “very impressive bid”, they were not the preferred option.

A period of exclusivity has been entered with the preferred bidder so that they can undertake due diligence and the identity of the preferred bidder might be revealed as soon as the end of next week. Given the comment in the ASX release that “if this transaction successfully proceeds to completion, it is unlikely to have any impact on the guidance (already) provided”, the offer being considered is likely to be small.

The REA Group and News International have also kept the door open to close the business or just sell the assets to the preferred bidder as they continue the consultation process with staff – a prelude to closure.

So who is the mystery bidder?

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