Property website Rightmove rejects 5.6 bn Murdoch bid [Video]

UK online property website Rightmove said Wednesday it had rejected a multi-billion-pound takeover offer from Australian peer REA Group, majority owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp empire.

Rightmove said in a statement that the cash and shares proposal, worth £5.6 billion (US$7.3 billion), “was wholly opportunistic and fundamentally undervalued” the company.

REA made public its interest in Rightmove on September 2, noting “clear similarities” between the pair “in terms of their leading market positions in the core residential business”.

Sector-watchers said REA could be attracted by the prospect of more interest-rate cuts in Britain which would lower mortgage costs for buyers, as well as by the new government’s plans for mass housebuilding.

“REA Group’s bid for Rightmove was highly opportunistic and so it’s little surprise that it’s been rejected for fundamentally undervaluing the company and its future prospects,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“REA …