Domain $2.8b takeover inches closer after US bidder sweetens offer
The Australian domain of the online real estate market opened its books to Costar after receiving a “best and last offer” of $ 4.43 per action by the US property giant, taking an acquisition deal of 2.8 billion market dollars.
The boss of Costar Andrew Florence, who left Australia last night, was depicted to arrive at a party at Joe Hockey’s house on the outskirts of Morthern in Sydney Sunday, which was also attended by nine Matt Stanton CEO and other company and political figures.
Nine, the owner of The Sydney Morning Herald, Age AND The Australian Financial ReviewIt has a 60 % participation in the domain and the offer for the company arrives as it leads a strategic review of its overall operations.
Andrew Florence of Costar arrives at Joe Hockey’s house of the former liberal treasurer on Sunday for a party also participated in the nine boss Matt Stanton.Credit: Oscar Colman
Having deployed the initial offer of Costar of $ 4.20 per action, the Nine bankers had suggested a price of $ 4.65 to the pretender of the United States. Costar’s new offer seems to land in the weak point for nine, which told the market that supported the domain decision to open his books now to the US company to grant access to the Due Diligence.
The offer represents a 42 % prize on the price of the closing actions of the domain on February 20, before the opening offer landed and an increase of 5.5 percent on the previous offer. The price of domain shares closed at $ 4.47 Wednesday and this morning it fell by 0.4 percent to $ 4.45 in the first exchanges.
Costar said that his latest proposal was the best and final price that he was willing to offer, in the absence of a competing proposal, which has yet to materialize. Domain said that his advice unanimously decided to interact with Costar, but he warned that there was no guarantee that an agreement would be agreed.
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Nine has sought greater control on the domain since its former president Peter Costello resigned in the mid -2010. The company suffered from a difficult relationship between Costello and president of the Nick Falloon domain.
In 2024, both Stanton and director Michie Rosen joined the domain council, while Peter Tonagh, an expert manager of the media and former vice president of the ABC, also joined Nine and Domain’s Board this year.
