OnTheMarket is set to demutualise and list on the stock market, according to Sky News.
The formal announcement is likely to be made tomorrow to the stock market.
Sky News says that Agents’ Mutual, parent company of OnTheMarket, will announce tomorrow “a radical plan to overhaul its corporate structure and raise £50m to back its expansion”.
City sources say that Zeus Capital, the investment bank, has been appointed to work on the listing.
Launched in 2015, OnTheMarket has rapidly gained market share in the cut-throat estate agency market, signing up thousands of agents across Britain.
Existing shareholders – who are estate agents – will first need to vote in favour of the demutualisation plan, said the Sky News report.
Assuming it goes ahead, the cash will be ploughed into accelerating the expansion and marketing of OTM’s operations.
Its aim is to challenge the “duopoly of Rightmove and Zoopla” by having sufficient firepower to attract and retain more estate agents, and grow traffic on its site, according to insiders.
The existing shareholders will retain a majority of the portal’s shares, aligning them with its future performance, according to the source.
OnTheMarket has roughly 5,700 estate agents and letting agents on its portal, a long way behind the numbers posted by Zoopla and Rightmove, but now with roughly a one-third share of the portal market, says the Sky News report.
EYE is due to be briefed early tomorrow morning and we will update you as soon as we can.
Comments (24)
Really amazing with so many agents continually knocking On The Market for trying to take back control, that was literally handed to Rightmove on a plate!! Haven’t we seen how Rightmove repays its agents loyalty over the years by continually increasing their fees, and with Purple Bricks advertising on its site, looks like they have a foot in both camps!!With an opportunity of wrestling control back from the two main rivals and reducing monthly subscription fees, ever increasing pressure being applied by government interference and online listing sites continually reducing profit margins you would expect more agents to look at reducing their monthly outgoings, only time will tell. But in the meantime Rightmove are laughing all the way to the bank!!
Let’s float it and develop an online estate agents using ‘real’ local property experts!
WTF…?
Is this not against everything OTM was set up for? Was it not set up as not for profit?
What about the prospect of a legal appeal? Surely this announcement will spur Zoopla into actiion by proxy in an attempt to scupper the float.Maybe the BNP Paribas acquistion of Strutts wasthe kickstarter on this
Zeus the brokers of course the Gods behind the Bricks flotation
So did they lie? Was this the plan all along? How much will Springett make personally from this? Did the original mutual founders plan this all along?
This not about helping agents this is about a few getting rich. If they really wanted to help agents they would have relaxed the rules, focused on the consumer and not wasted a year on a vanity project.
Lost all credibility in my view and now seeking to max out their profit before it dies.
Shameful.
At least if they are public you will all get to see how much of your money Ian Springett is trousering. The whole thing stinks of self-interest. I seem to recall in one of the original presentations I attended that they needed 90% of members to vote in favour to so something like this. Surely that vote will fail unless the members believe some of the fantasy that will be no doubt spun but still can’t see how you can sign up and be in favour of a mutual concept which is driving for low fees and no profits and then get on board with exactly the opposite idea???
The only way I imagine agents would go for it is from the point of view of hoping to indemnify their loan notes? Surely no right thinking agent can still believe OTM’s existence is in the best interest of the industry or it’s members. Problem is OTM can’t use that as the pitch. Even if they are able to sustain the grand delusion they will need shareholders…and whilst I realise investors can be gullible surely not THAT gullible.
In other news…Turkeys propose to vote for a second Christmas.
This is so mind bogglingly ridiculous, desperate, ironic and almost admirably cheeky…I’m afraid if I start to comment properly I won’t be able stop.
Talk about a change in direction! I thought this was all about charging less to member agents not having to answer to shareholders who want profits??? All this means is that they will have to drop the other portal rule and some agents will now list on 3 instead of 2 portals and spend even more. OTM doesn’t work. I tried it and it produced next to no results. I will stick to Rightmove and Zoopla. How can agents who signed up for AM as being ‘not for profit’ embrace this crazy idea? Greed I guess? It just means you will now not get the lower fees they promised or any of the other things they promised like mutual ownership, equal votes, limited liability, etc…This seems to me to just create a distant third player with some bit players in industry supporting it out of self interest rather than results.
Well there has been a lot of newsflashes and activity in the industry this week. I think I will need to get the popcorn out myself. It seems just just as easy to list on the stock market as it is on crowdfunding sites. Who will be next? Emoov or Allagents?
Well…..been saying for ages they needed to do something radically different. They could use a big wadge of the money to start up Collective Adaptive Intelligent Marketing to both attract more independent members and generate a lot more customers for them. This could either be the beginning of the end or just the end of the beginning.
I hope it is the latter….for all our sakes!!!
I’d better pour another
I was really just going to the next meeting for the sandwiches and local gossip. This is going to be a little lively I suspect.
So just remind me, didn’t Rightmove start with a few high profile agents owing a chunk of shares?
The meeting we’ve all been “invited” to attend over the next few weeks should be interesting.
£50m of our money blown and now they need another £50m. Insane. If they achieve this there is too much foolish money out there! Close it down. Focus on your own businesses and winning in your local markets.
I wished I knew that earlier, I would have sold my zoopla and rightmove shares before they drop! This changes the whole direction . Initially a portal set up by agents, now aiming to be a PLC company. Sounds very familiar to me. Perhaps it will go part RM and part PB and go down the road as being the most positively reviewed portal in the UK! I just searched for reviews on it and guess what came up! https://www.allagents.co.uk/supplier/onthemarket/
Sorry only read your comment after posting mine… great minds and all that!
Think this is great and ramps it up a bit. Game on
Pop goes the one other portal rule then!
I believe the popular saying is … w.t.f.
Not sure if they’ve got enough to survive the stock exchange but I guess winning the case in the court room has put a spring in their step.
Fair enough but you still need to win over a whole bunch of agents. Not sure if being a plc will help though…
Don’t knock it, this could be a game changer
I WAS GOING TO BED!!!!
hahahahahahahaha!!!!
Sit back and enjoy the car crash!