Propertyfinder MBO Fails But …
June 26, 2009 by Simon Baker · 8 Comments
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?
thinkproperty.com Free-to-List Growth
February 24, 2009 by Emma Sorensen · 2 Comments
thinkproperty.com might be leading the change from paid to free-to-list
Late last year thinkproperty.com changed to a free-to-list model and it already looks to be paying off for the UK portal, with the company reporting that the number of agents listing on the portal has risen.
Read more
Is Rightmove a Takeover Target?
February 19, 2009 by Simon Baker · 1 Comment
An article appeared recently from Estate Agent Today speculating that rightmove.co.uk could be ripe for a takeover bid. The article discusses a report by an investment broker Teathers, who is rating the stock as a “buy” and is tipping the purchase of shares in Rightmove. Given the state of the market, the position and historic performance of rightmove, and the depressed state of its share price, it appears that Rightmove could be a good acquisition target. Here are our thoughts.
Vebra Blocks globrix.com
November 4, 2008 by Emma Sorensen · 12 Comments
Last week Vebra blocked the globrix.com crawler from picking up properties from Vebra hosted agents.
globrix.com say in a blog update that the crawler has been operating for over a year, and yet Vebra are “insisting that a charge is levied for a feed on the grounds that crawling disrupts their service (the reality being that the Globrix crawler mimics one single user slowly clicking through all Vebras agents which is very little traffic)”.
globrix.com say the costs currently under discussion are “prohibitively expensive” and “somewhat unfair” as globrix.com are providing what they consider to be a value added service in the form of free traffic for Vebra.
Vebra includes the software and marketing company vebra.info as well as the portal vebra.com and is owned by GMG Property Services, a division within Guardian Media Group. GMG also own thinkproperty.com and coresystems.co.uk. Last week we reported that thinkproperty.com was rumoured to be changing to a free-to-list model.
As the situation stands “all agents who host their properties with Vebra will not be receiving free traffic from globrix.com”, while globrix.com and Vebra continue their negotiations.
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