IPGA Ltd., which develops and operates real-estate portals across Asia, has picked up a controlling stake in Horizon Infoventures Private Ltd., owner of Indian property portal RealAcres.com. The acquisition has been routed through IPGA Ltd’s wholly-owned subsidiary, iProperty Group Asia Pte Ltd. IPGA plans to bring its print, exhibition and online luxury products to Indian market in partnership with RealAcres.com in due course. The management and the vendors of RealAcres.com have been retained and have entered into a minimum three year service agreements.
The details of the agreement signed between the two parties are: On the completion of the deal IPGA would own 60 per cent stake in the business of Horizon Infoventures, with an option to purchase the remaining 40 per cent based on future earnings. IPGA will invest around $0.47 million in working capital in four equal tranches into the business in return for 43 per cent stake of Horizon Infoventures in the first stage of the deal. In the next stage, IPGA will swap shares for a further 17 per cent stake, and the per share price would be determined on the basis of performance.
The deal marks the the entrance of of Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed IPGA Ltd entrance into the real estate classifieds market in India. Some of the real estate portals in India include Info Edge’s 99acres.com, Times Group’s Magicbricks, Consim’s Indianproperty, among others. IPGA has web portals in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Phillippines and Taiwan.