PropTiger, Housing.Com to merge; new entity to raise $55 mn

In a major consolidation, PropTiger.Com and Housing.Com will merge to create India's largest online real estate services company that will raise USD 55 million for business expansion.
News Corp-backed PropTiger.Com and SoftBank-backed Housing.Com today said they will "come together to become India's largest online real estate services company".
As part of the deal, Australia's REA Group Ltd will invest USD 50 million in the joint entity, while an affiliate of SoftBank Group Corp will invest USD 5 million.
Co-founder and CEO of PropTiger Dhruv Agarwala will serve as CEO of the new entity, while Jason Kothari, CEO of Housing.Com, will quit to pursue other opportunities in the Indian Internet space, a joint statement said.

"It's a merger deal. Shareholders of PropTiger.Com and Housing.Com will be the shareholders in the new entity", Agarwala told PTI.
"We will be using all the three brands -- Propetiger.Com, Housing.Com and Makaan.Com to offer full range of online and offline real estate solutions for the home buyers," he added.

The USD 55 million fund would be utilised for business development including new products, technologies and branding, Agarwala said.
Online real estate space has seen major consolidations in recent times. In January 2015, CommonFloor.Com merged with Quikr's realty vertical QuikrHomes. PropTiger had also acquired Makaan.Com in 2015.
News Corp, which owns 61.6 per cent of REA Group, would remain the largest shareholder of PropTiger.

PropTiger is a leading online residential real estate brokerage firm, having completed transactions worth USD 1.5 billion since being founded in 2011, while Housing.Com is a popular online platform for buying and selling homes, receiving over four million visits every month.
In July 2015, Housing.Com's board had sacked its CEO and co-founder Rahul Yadav, saying that his behaviour towards investors and media was not "befitting" of a CEO. In November, Jason Kothari was appointed as new CEO.
"India is an important part of our international growth strategy. We believe in the potential of the Indian real estate market...The joint entity will have access to REA Group expertise and know-how from its operations across the globe," REA Group CEO Tracy Fellows said.

News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson said: "Our investments in PropTiger, REA Group and Move, Inc are testimony to our faith in the potential of the global digital real estate market, of which we are now the largest player."
The representatives of REA and SoftBank will join the board of the new joint entity, which will continue to be chaired by a News Corp representative.
Henry Ruiz, Chief Digital Officer, REA Group, Simon Barnett, Sales Director, News Corp, and Jonathan Bullock, MD, 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.