Zoopla (ZPG) has sold the Australian arm of property insight and software company Hometrack, recouping the major chunk of the money it spent buying Hometrack some 16 months ago.
ZPG said in a stockmarket announcement yesterday that Hometrack Australia had been sold to property portal and media business REA Group for AUD$130m (£71m.)
The move is subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, but Alex Chesterman, chief executive of ZPG, said it was a better fit for the firm.
He said: “ZPG acquired Hometrack Australia as part of our acquisition of the wider Hometrack business in the UK last year and we have always been clear that our core markets are the UK and Europe.
“We believe that REA Group, as a local operator, would be a more natural owner of the Hometrack Australia business.”
ZPG initially acquired Hometrack in January 2017 for a hefty £120m.
The announcement at the time highlighted Hometrack’s “strong position in Australian market with significant growth opportunities”.
Comments (4)
Am I reading this right. They made a loss of £50m?
I think they purchased the entire company for £120m and then sold the Australlian arm for £50m, but the UK and Europe parts are still within their business.
They have most likely made a decent profit from this, but it begs the question why buy something they knew wasn’t fit for purpose?
To make a decent profit??
Fair point well taken, a bit naive from me there!
My point was that such a thing (quick sale to make a profit), isn’t really part of the ZOG strategy, and that time could have been put in to something else internally.
But yes, not a bad profit and will hopefully find something useful for agents.