The owner of UK property site Zoopla and comparison site Uswitch is being bought by a US private equity firm for a £2.2bn deal.
A California-based tech investor, Silver Lake which also owns the PrimeLocation and SmartNewHomes websites has given its nod to 490p a share bid for parent company ZPG. The bid valued at a £2.2bn will mark a third higher than ZPG’s closing price on Thursday.
The deal is being backed by more than 31% of investors including DMGT the parent company of the Daily Mail, which is in line for a £640m payday from the sale of its 29.9% stake.
It will also mark the successful exit of business for entrepreneurs Chesterman, who founded Zoopla in 2007 after merging his online DVD rental business ScreenSelect with LoveFilm, which was later acquired by Amazon in 2011 for £200m.
Alex Chesterman, the Zoopla Founder and Chief Executive said,
“Silver Lake is the global leader in technology investing and I am firm of the belief that ZPG will benefit from their technical expertise and global network which will help accelerate our growth. I am very excited about the opportunity this offers to our employees, customers and partners as we move to the next stage of ZPG’s development and growth.”
DMGT has been an active stake owner of ZPG since 2012 when its own online property business, the Digital Property Group had merged with Zoopla. The company rose in London in 2014 and agreed to buy the Uswitch website in 2015.