LONDON (AFP) – REA Group, the Australian online property website majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp empire, said yesterday it has made a third multi-billion-pound offer to buy British peer Rightmove.
The latest proposal, worth GBP6.1 billion (USD8.1 billion), comes after Rightmove rejected REA’s previous two bids made this month.
“We are genuinely disappointed at the lack of engagement by Rightmove’s Board,” REA chief executive officer Owen Wilson said in a statement published on the London Stock Exchange.
Rightmove confirmed in a statement that it had received a third proposal that was “unsolicited, non-binding and highly conditional”.
Rightmove chairman Andrew Fisher said the board rejected the first two proposals as they “were uncertain, highly opportunistic and unattractive”.
He added: “The board will continue to act on behalf of our shareholders and respond to the most recent proposal in due course.”
Shares in Rightmove were up 2.8 per cent in early deals on London’s FTSE 100 index.
REA made public its interest on September 2, noting “clear similarities” between the pair “in terms of their leading market positions in the core residential business”.
The first offer was worth GBP5.6 billion. Rightmove rejected a second proposal on September 18.
