REA Group CEO Owen Wilson
Singapore-headquartered PropertyGuru Group has signed an agreement to fully acquire REA Group’s operating entities in Malaysia and Thailand.
An ASX-listed multinational digital ads business specialising in property, REA operates iProperty.com.my and Brickz.my in Malaysia and thinkofliving.com and Prakard.com Thailand.
As part of the agreement, REA will receive an 18 per cent equity interest in PropertyGuru and appoint a Director to the Board.
The transaction is expected to close in July 2021.
As per a press note, the transaction will enable both PropertyGuru.com.my and iProperty.com.my to combine resources, accelerate innovation and provide enhanced digital solutions to home seekers, property agents and developers. They will retain their independent brand names.
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PropertyGuru has been operating in Malaysia for the past decade and claims to have over 12 million monthly visits. In Thailand, it operates DDproperty.com that attracts over three million visits each month.
Hari V. Krishnan, CEO and MD, PropertyGuru Group, said: “Malaysians have shown a preference for digital research of properties and that they value the tools and services PropertyGuru.com.my and iProperty.com.my provide today. Together we make property searches, pricing trends and financing options more transparent. By combining PropertyGuru’s strengths in technology and proprietary data with iProperty.com.my’s footprint and relationships with developers and agents, we can digitize the property ecosystem and accelerate our goal of creating Southeast Asia’s property ‘Trust Platform’.”
Owen Wilson, CEO, REA Group, said: “REA Group has made excellent progress in Malaysia and Thailand. Key highlights include the successful launch of iProperty PRO, a proptech tool that provides property agent customers with property data insights, powered by Brickz.my, to reach the largest pool of property seekers in Malaysia.”
“In addition, moving into the fintech space with the launch of Loancare helps consumers establish their home loan eligibility with up to 17 banks. Loancare also identifies which banks are most likely to lend to people based on their debt to service ratio criteria,” Wilson added.
Launched in 2007, PropertyGuru and its group of companies claims to have more than 2.8 million homes on its online platforms, offer in-depth insights, and solutions that enable customers to make confident property decisions across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Despite all the uncertainties brought about by the pandemic over the past year, PropertyGuru grew monthly visits to 35 million regionally. It claims to have over 50 per cent share in Southeast Asia’s proptech market.
During the pandemic, PropertyGuru introduced mortgage offering PropertyGuru Finance, PropertyGuru FastKey, and data capabilities to empower property seekers across Southeast Asia to ‘Find.Finance.Own’ their homes.
In September 2020, PropertyGuru received S$300 million (US$226 million) in additional investment from existing investors TPG and KKR. A year earlier, the group had shelved its proposed IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange on account of “the current IPO market sentiment” back then.
REA operates Australia’s leading residential and commercial property websites — realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au. Its other properties are Flatmates.com.au (dedicated to share property), and Spacely (a short-term commercial and co-working property website).
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It also operates Smartline Home Loans, an Australian mortgage broking franchise group, and PropTrack, a leading provider of property data services.
In Asia, the group also owns squarefoot.com.hk and myfun.com (in China), and holds a controlling interest in India’s Elara Technologies (which operates Housing.com, Makaan.com and PropTiger.com).
REA Group also holds a significant shareholding in property websites realtor.com in the US, 99.co and iproperty.com.sg in Singapore and rumah123.com in Indonesia.
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Image Credit: REA Group.
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