LONDON, UK: CoStar UK Limited, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of CoStar Group, has made a cash offer to acquire OnTheMarket plc. Under the terms, each OnTheMarket shareholder will be entitled to receive 110 pence in cash. The acquisition values the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of OnTheMarket at approximately £99 million and represents a premium of approximately 56 per cent to the closing price of 70.50 pence per OnTheMarket Share on 18 October 2023.
CoStar Group believe that the acquisition represents an attractive strategic entry point for CoStar into the UK residential property market. CoStar has invested billions of dollars into building the world’s leading online property marketplaces, generating hundreds of millions of leads, resulting in millions of successful commercial and residential property transactions for its clients.
CoStar’s websites attracted approximately 280 million visits in September 2023, and include Homes.com, the agent-friendly, second largest and fastest growing residential marketplace in the United States.
OnTheMarket is an asset with an established and differentiated position within the UK market. Its digital platform has strong customer relationships and robust traffic flow that will allow CoStar to continue to accelerate its own international expansion efforts across the UK and Europe.
OnTheMarket’s founding and continued ownership by estate agents – its customers – has developed a loyal, recurring base of agents that list on the platform. This has led its advertiser count to nearly triple from approximately 4,600 in 2015 to over 13,000 today. Strong agent relationships and listings attract serious property seekers, with OnTheMarket delivering a 6.8 per cent. conversion ratio of leads to website visitors.
CoStar (NASDAQ: CSGP) is a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the property markets. Founded in 1987, CoStar conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of real estate information.
CoStar has invested billions of dollars into building the world’s leading online property marketplaces, generating hundreds of millions of leads resulting in millions of successful commercial and residential property transactions for its clients. CoStar’s websites attracted approximately 280 million visits in September 2023, and include Homes.com, the agent-friendly, second largest and fastest growing residential marketplace in the United States. CoStar’s brands also include LoopNet.com, the number one commercial property marketplace and Apartments.com, the number one apartment marketing site in the United States.
Commenting on the Acquisition, Andy Florance, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CoStar, said: “We believe the acquisition of OnTheMarket represents an attractive and efficient entry point for CoStar into the estimated £8 trillion United Kingdom residential property market. We are excited to welcome the OnTheMarket team to the CoStar family.
OnTheMarket was founded by agents with the mission to provide a competitive alternative to the existing property portals in the United Kingdom. OnTheMarket has successfully developed a large network of agents and access to property listings by taking an agent-friendly approach and providing high intent leads at a fraction of the cost of the dominant players in the market.
CoStar has a strong track record of acquiring, investing in and building online property marketplaces into leading positions, including LoopNet, Apartments.com, and most recently Homes.com. With Homes.com online traffic of approximately six million monthly unique visitors at acquisition, we invested aggressively in content, technology and marketing and, in the past year, monthly unique visitors have surged more than 1,200 per cent. to reach over 100 million monthly unique visitors in September 2023 according to Google Analytics, generating millions of leads directly to agents.
We are excited to combine CoStar’s resources and leading marketplace experience with OnTheMarket’s agent-focused culture to create a leading player in the United Kingdom marketplace and provide increased choice and higher quality offerings for consumers.”
Jason Tebb, Chief Executive Officer of OnTheMarket, said: “From a position of strength, partnering with CoStar will significantly accelerate our strategy with the clear target of becoming the market leader, whilst staying committed to fair and sustainable pricing. CoStar will bring industry-leading global expertise and significant financial firepower to invest in OnTheMarket, allowing us to accelerate our transformation of the sector. We have strong shared values in our commitment to agents who we believe will benefit from unparalleled value and greater opportunities to enhance their businesses.”