CoStar Group to Acquire OnTheMarket in £100 Million Takeover Deal

In a seminal move set to reshape the landscape of the UK’s residential property sector, CoStar Group, a renowned New York-listed property giant with a market capitalization of $33 billion, is on the brink of acquiring OnTheMarket in a deal expected to be officially unveiled as early as Thursday, according to insider reports obtained by Sky News.

OnTheMarket, the agent-backed property portal, is anticipated to receive a £100 million takeover bid from CoStar Group, a major player in the online real estate industry with a significant presence in the United States. The bid is rumored to be offered at a substantial premium over OnTheMarket’s closing price of 70.5p on Wednesday, heralding a potentially transformative moment for the platform.

Although the exact financial terms of the acquisition are yet to be disclosed, it is widely speculated that an official announcement of the agreed deal could be made as soon as Thursday morning. This development is expected to inject new energy and resources into OnTheMarket, which went public on the London Stock Exchange’s junior AIM market in 2017 but faced recent challenges, including an unusually high rate of agent contract cancellations earlier this year.

CoStar Group’s move to acquire OnTheMarket aligns with its strategic expansion in the online real estate industry. In 2021, CoStar Group made a significant investment by acquiring Homes.com, a prominent US online property platform. This forthcoming acquisition further solidifies CoStar’s position in the sector and underlines its commitment to international growth.

The deal places CoStar Group in competition with established players in the UK property market such as Rightmove and Zoopla, with the latter being part of a broader property service group backed by the private equity firm Silver Lake. Goldman Sachs is providing advisory services to CoStar on the acquisition, while Shore Capital and Zeus, OnTheMarket’s brokers, are advising the platform throughout the takeover process.

As the dust settles in the wake of this exciting development, all eyes are on the anticipated announcement, which is poised to bring about a significant transformation in the British residential property sector.