Rightmove Rejects Latest $8.3 Billion Bid Proposal From REA

By Ian Walker

Rightmove rejected News Corp-controlled REA Group's fourth proposal, valued at 6.2 billion pounds ($8.29 billion), and called on the company to put forward its best and final proposal ahead of Monday's bid deadline.

The London-listed online property portal said it had fully considered the latest proposal and that Chairman Andrew Fisher agreed to meet with REA Chair Hamish McLennan in order to start talks.

Rightmove said no new information was presented at the meeting that changes its opinion of the proposal, which it said remained unattractive and continued to materially undervalue Rightmove and its future prospects.

On Friday the Australian real-estate advertiser tabled a new proposal to buy Rightmove--which followed the rejections of its previous three approaches--under which accepting Rightmove shareholders would receive 346 pence in cash and 0.0417 new REA shares for each share held. They would also receive a special dividend of 6 pence in cash, in lieu of any final dividend for this year.

The latest terms imply a value of 781 pence a Rightmove share, including the dividend, based on REA's closing price of 200.00 Australian dollars ($138.06) on Friday.

News Corp is the parent company of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2024 03:21 ET (07:21 GMT)

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