Rightmove rejects fourth REA offer as deadline approaches

Shares in Rightmove fell on Monday after the British property website rejected a fourth takeover bid from Australian group REA.

The FTSE 100 group told shareholders that the latest offer, worth around £6.15bn in total, was “unattractive” and continued to “materially undervalue” Rightmove and its prospects.

Rightmove also revealed that it had rejected REA’s requests for an extension to the “put up or close” deadline, meaning the Australian firm has until 5pm today to make a final takeover attempt, or see how it pans out. slams the door on their efforts.

The latest offer comprised 346p cash, 0.0471 REA shares and a special cash dividend of 6p per Rightmove share, an increase on the third offer of around 3 per cent.

REA, which is 62 per cent owned by the Murdoch family’s News Corp, says an acquisition of Rightmove “would seek to improve the UK property experience for buyers, sellers and renters”, supporting Rightmove’s vision of “giving everyone the confidence that they can make their move’.

But Rightmove chairman Andrew Fisher said on Monday that the board is “confident in the independent future” of the group, amid “very significant opportunities for future growth”.

The firm told shareholders that REA’s requests for more due diligence information and an extension to the bid submission deadline would not be in Rightmove’s best interests.

Fisher added: ‘The last few weeks have been very disruptive, as well as unsettling for our colleagues.

“To the extent that REA wants to submit an additional proposal, I urge you to submit a better and final proposal before today’s 5:00 pm PUSU deadline, so that we can bring certainty to this process.”

Right Movement Actions They were down 2.4 percent at 652.4 pence in early trading on Monday. Acquisition speculation has helped push them 17.4 percent higher since the beginning of September.

The REA has not yet commented on the latest bid rejection.