Realty portal PropTiger acquires Housing.com in all-stock deal As part of the transaction,
REA Group Limited will invest USD 50 million in the joint entity with an affiliate of SoftBank Group Corp, investing USD 5 million. Corp-backed realty portal PropTiger has acquired Mumbai-based rival Housing.com in an all stock deal, the company announced on Tuesday. However, the valuation of the deal remains undisclosed. As part of the transaction, REA Group Limited will invest USD 50 million in the joint entity with an affiliate of Soft Bank Group Corp, investing USD 5 million. News Corp will continue to be the largest shareholder of Prop Tiger, and also owns 61.6 percent stake in REA Group.
Representatives of REA and Soft Bank will join the board of the joint entity, which will continue to be chaired by a News Corp representative. The deal was speculated by various media outlets after Housing.com struck a partnership with Prop Tiger in September last year. Dhruv Agarwala, co-founder and CEO of Prop Tiger, will serve as CEO of the joint entity. Jason Kothari, who was appointed as CEO of Housing.com post ouster of founder Rahul Yadav – will no longer be associated with the company but will continue to be an advisor to the joint entity through the end of February, 2017. Commenting on the development Agarwala said, “Housing has established itself as a formidable online brand and we admire its consumer centric product innovation. The timing of this deal is just right.”
“The joint entity will be well-positioned to establish market leadership in a large and rapidly changing marketplace. As I move on to my next opportunity, I am glad to leave behind a strong foundation,” Kothari added. (Funding details of Housing.com | Source: Tracxn) The joint entity will boost Prop Tiger’s full stack Online-to-Offline (O2O) services proposition. In April, 2015, PropTiger acquired online classifieds platform Makaan.com to launch India’s first O2O platform. It claims to have completed transactions worth USD 1.5 billion since its founding in 2011. Henry Ruiz of REA Group, Simon Barnett of News Corp and Jonathan Bullock of SoftBank Group International will join Raju Narisetti (chair), Ravi Adusumalli from SAIF Partners and Prashanth Prakash from Accel Partners as investor directors on the board of the joint entity. (Funding details of |
Source: Tracxn) “Housing is very well established as an online real estate platform brand and we have been working with the management team to create strong execution capabilities to offer full stack services under one umbrella. Prop Tiger has already created a great transaction engine. We have full confidence in the management team and will continue to support them,” said Soft Bank’s Jonathan Bullock. Troubled past Housing.com had started struggling when its co-founder Rahul Yadav was fired post his falling out with the investor controlled board of directors in 2015. It subsequently led to exit of other co-founders too. brought Jason Kothari, as an outsider CEO. The company was rumoured to be on merger talks with ecommerce marketplace Snapdeal. However, all talks fell flat post exit of Nikesh Arora from Softbank as existing investors tightened their purses. "The Housing Board, unanimously agreed to bring Rahul Yadav's tenure to a close, with reference to his behaviour towards investors, ecosystem and the media. It believes that his behaviour is not befitting of a CEO and is detrimental to the company," the Board said in a statement in 2015.
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REA Group Limited will invest USD 50 million in the joint entity with an affiliate of SoftBank Group Corp, investing USD 5 million. Corp-backed realty portal PropTiger has acquired Mumbai-based rival Housing.com in an all stock deal, the company announced on Tuesday. However, the valuation of the deal remains undisclosed. As part of the transaction, REA Group Limited will invest USD 50 million in the joint entity with an affiliate of Soft Bank Group Corp, investing USD 5 million. News Corp will continue to be the largest shareholder of Prop Tiger, and also owns 61.6 percent stake in REA Group.
Representatives of REA and Soft Bank will join the board of the joint entity, which will continue to be chaired by a News Corp representative. The deal was speculated by various media outlets after Housing.com struck a partnership with Prop Tiger in September last year. Dhruv Agarwala, co-founder and CEO of Prop Tiger, will serve as CEO of the joint entity. Jason Kothari, who was appointed as CEO of Housing.com post ouster of founder Rahul Yadav – will no longer be associated with the company but will continue to be an advisor to the joint entity through the end of February, 2017. Commenting on the development Agarwala said, “Housing has established itself as a formidable online brand and we admire its consumer centric product innovation. The timing of this deal is just right.”
“The joint entity will be well-positioned to establish market leadership in a large and rapidly changing marketplace. As I move on to my next opportunity, I am glad to leave behind a strong foundation,” Kothari added. (Funding details of Housing.com | Source: Tracxn) The joint entity will boost Prop Tiger’s full stack Online-to-Offline (O2O) services proposition. In April, 2015, PropTiger acquired online classifieds platform Makaan.com to launch India’s first O2O platform. It claims to have completed transactions worth USD 1.5 billion since its founding in 2011. Henry Ruiz of REA Group, Simon Barnett of News Corp and Jonathan Bullock of SoftBank Group International will join Raju Narisetti (chair), Ravi Adusumalli from SAIF Partners and Prashanth Prakash from Accel Partners as investor directors on the board of the joint entity. (Funding details of |
Source: Tracxn) “Housing is very well established as an online real estate platform brand and we have been working with the management team to create strong execution capabilities to offer full stack services under one umbrella. Prop Tiger has already created a great transaction engine. We have full confidence in the management team and will continue to support them,” said Soft Bank’s Jonathan Bullock. Troubled past Housing.com had started struggling when its co-founder Rahul Yadav was fired post his falling out with the investor controlled board of directors in 2015. It subsequently led to exit of other co-founders too. brought Jason Kothari, as an outsider CEO. The company was rumoured to be on merger talks with ecommerce marketplace Snapdeal. However, all talks fell flat post exit of Nikesh Arora from Softbank as existing investors tightened their purses. "The Housing Board, unanimously agreed to bring Rahul Yadav's tenure to a close, with reference to his behaviour towards investors, ecosystem and the media. It believes that his behaviour is not befitting of a CEO and is detrimental to the company," the Board said in a statement in 2015.
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