REA pulls bid for Rightmove after fourth rebuff

Rupert Murdoch-backed Australian property listings group REA has pulled its latest £6.5bn offer for Rightmove. The group, which has been steadily increasing its offer for the UK property listings portal since 2 September, has now pulled out of the process. Rightmove had given REA until 5pm today as a “put up or shut up” deadline, asking it to give a best and final offer. REA chief executive Owen Wilson said: “Against a backdrop of intensifying global competition, we approached Rightmove’s board because we strongly believed in the opportunity to create a globally diversified leader in the digital property sector that would benefit both REA and Rightmove shareholders. We were disappointed with the limited engagement from Rightmove, which impeded our ability to make a firm offer within the timetable available. They had nothing to lose by engaging with us.” He added: “We are always financially disciplined when we look at M&A and reinvestment in our business, and will continue to focus on the many other opportunities ahead of us. We have a clear strategy to expand in our core business and adjacent markets, and India represents an exceptional opportunity for growth. We look forward to pursuing these opportunities and generating further value for REA shareholders.” Earlier today, Rightmove rejected REA’s fourth offer for the company, saying it continued to “materially undervalue Rightmove and its future prospects”. Chairman Andrew Fisher said: “We respect REA and the success they have achieved in their domestic market. However, we remain confident in the stand-alone future of Rightmove. Rightmove has been the leading operator in the UK for more than 20 years, and it has differentiated market presence, branding and technology, and very significant opportunities for future growth.” Robert Thomson, chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, said: “We strongly support the decision by the REA team to withdraw from the potential acquisition of Rightmove. We applaud REA’s financial discipline as it is foolhardy to overpay for an asset, even if it patently had positive potential. Financial discipline has been at the heart of the transformation of News Corp and our recent successful acquisitions of Dow Jones and HarperCollins reflect that core principle. “Thanks to Lachlan Murdoch’s savvy investment in REA, digital property has become an important engine of growth at News Corp. We have no doubt that REA will continue to successfully expand into auspicious adjacencies and are excited by their progress in India, where the company is now the market leader and benefiting from the express economic growth in the world’s [most populous] country. As for Rightmove, we wish them well in an increasingly competitive British market – unfortunately, the company’s board did not make the right move.”