Britain’s Rightmove rejects REA’s sweetened £6.1 billion takeover offer

AUSTRALIAN property listing firm REA Group said on Monday that Britain’s largest real estate portal Rightmove had rejected its sweetened £6.1 billion (S$10.5 billion) cash-and-stock takeover offer.

Under the new proposal, REA offered to pay a total of 749 pence per Rightmove share, higher than the earlier offer of 705 pence apiece.

REA, which is majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, said Rightmove continued to characterise the offer as fundamentally undervaluing the company.

The sweetened deal comes after Rightmove rejected REA’s initial £5.6 billion buyout offer earlier this month, citing the same reason. REUTERS