REA Group Set to Submit New Bid for Rightmove

Australia's REA Group is expected to return to Rightmove with an improved bid for the portal, according to reports.

Rightmove unanimously rejected a £5.6bn buyout offer on 10 September, five days after it was submitted, and now it appears REA Group will try its luck on an improved offer.

Rightmove received an unsolicited, non-binding and highly conditional offer from REA Group regarding a possible cash and shares offer to acquire the entire issues and to-be-issued ordinary share capital of Rightmove at the beginning of September—but branded the offer as "wholly opportunistic and fundamentally undervalued Rightmove and its future prospects," before rejecting it (publicly) in its 10 September statement to the markets.

A total offer value of 705 pence for each Rightmove share wasn't enough to sway Rightmove shareholders, so what will it take to get them to sell up?

The Mail on Sunday reported that REA may increase its bid to circa £6bn in an attempt to win over Rightmove shareholders, while Panmure Liberum analyst Sean Kealy told The Negotiator that a £7.1bn offer would be needed to represent an attractive premium.