Lifull Spins Off Overseas 'Connect' Business as FazWaz Takes over

The Japanese real estate marketplace operator, Lifull has transferred control of its 'Overseas' business to Connect Next, an entity controlled by the founders of the Thai tech-enabled brokerage FazWaz.

Online Marketplaces understands that the deal, which was announced via a press release on Friday the 17th, was signed and ratified earlier this week.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lifull will retain a 55% stake in the new Connect Next business but cedes all voting rights to the FazWaz team. The share transfer did not include a cash consideration and will lead to the exclusion of the Lifull Connect business from Lifull's financial reporting to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Above: The new business structure (source: Lifull press release)

Domestically, Lifull owns and operates the HOMES real estate vertical, a challenger to the Recruit-owned market leader Suumo.jp. In 2014, the Tokyo-based firm began its overseas expansion quest with the acquisition of the Barcelona-based aggregator Trovit. In 2018, it went on to buy fellow Spain-based aggregator Mitula Group and has since added several real estate portals, including Southeast Asian brand Dot Property and Latin American brand Properati. It announced the acquisition of the Thai brokerage FazWaz in 2023.

These varied brands had been operated under the Lifull Connect umbrella and reported on the company's balance sheet as its 'Overseas' segment.

While FazWaz's transaction-based business has been growing, the fortunes of Lifull Connect's portal and aggregator businesses have been more mixed in recent years with bosses in Tokyo opting for a leadership reshuffle in late 2024.

Day-to-day management for the entire Lifull Connect business including aggregators, portals and brokerage now falls on FazWaz CEO, Mike Kenner who has been working alongside many of the individual brands that made up Lifull Connect since FazWaz was itself acquired by Lifull in 2023.

The FazWaz team now take on the challenge of unifying disparate businesses around the world.

In a post on LinkedIn, Kenner said:

"This past year, FazWaz completed a Management Buyout (MBO). For my co-founders Paul Trayman, Brennan Campbell, and me, it’s more than a deal...it’s a statement. When we sold FazWaz, we thought it was the natural next step. But the more we looked at what we’d built and the vision we still held, the more we realized: the mission wasn’t complete. We’d come too far, overcome too much, and had too much ambition left to let the journey end there.

"Sometimes, if you want the coffee and they won’t sell it to you, you buy the coffee shop. In our case, we didn’t just get back FazWaz; we took control of Lifull Connect, a powerhouse with assets in LATAM, Europe, and Southeast Asia. This positions us as one of the few PropTech companies with a truly global footprint and immense potential to reshape the industry."

In March 2024 Kenner spoke to Online Marketplaces Chairman Simon Baker (interview below) about the hurdles associated with merging these brands and businesses.