By Himanshi Akhand and Rishav Chatterjee
(Reuters) -US The Company Costar acquires an area for a billion dollars ($ 1.92 billion), including the debt, the Australian platform for properties said on Friday in order to create a well -capitalized rival at the REA of News Corp.
After weeks of reasonable diligence by Costar, which holds a 16.9% participation in Domain, companies agreed with the $ 4.43 supply of the American company.
Domain shares gained up to 5.2% to $ 4.47 and were set for their increase in a larger day in almost a month.
The media company Nine Entertainment, the largest shareholder in Domain, expressed its support for the agreement and would receive $ 1.4 billion for its 60.1%stake. Nine shares jumped up to 8.1% to $ 1.61.
Costar acquired a 16.9% participation in Domain on February 21, before an initial buyout offer of an installation of $ 4.20, which was then collected. The acquisition would be subject to a vote by shareholders in mid-August.
The director of the Spatium capital portfolio, Jesse Moors, said that he would monitor the way in which the Australian foreign investment examination committee considers the risk of sovereignty with the data on residential housing of the Australian public belonging to an American real estate company.
Nine, which has popular newspapers such as The Age and Australian Financial Review, failed to match the field with the success that Rea played the news rival controlled by News Corp.
REA’s market value reached $ 33.16 billion, after jumping more than 160% since 2020.
The field is currently estimated at $ 2.69 billion.
REA’s shares fell 4.2% and have been set for their largest loss of a day since the beginning of April.
“We do not expect a material impact on the position of REA over the next 1 to 3 years, in particular given the execution of REA products and expect that the marketing calendars are initially developing if Costar succeeds in growing the public in the domain,” said Citi analysts.
Costar, originally an information and analysis provider for commercial real estate, has focused on recent years towards the creation of a dominant presence on the online real estate markets.
($ 1 = 1.5659 Australian dollars)
(Report by Himanshi Akhand and Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; edition by Rashmi Aich)
