CoStar makes offer for Australian company

CoStar, which operates a real estate news service in the United States, has offered $1.68 billion for Australia’s second-largest property advertiser, reports Stuart Condie of The Wall Street Journal.

Condie reports, “CoStar, which operates U.S. portals including Homes.com, made a nonbinding all-cash proposal for Domain worth 4.20 Australian dollars, equivalent to about US$2.66, per share. That represented a near 35% premium to Domain’s share price before the local share-market open.

“Domain said Friday that its board would assess the proposal. CoStar has already acquired an almost 17% stake at the proposed offer price, Domain said.

“CoStar’s proposal comes 14 months after it completed a $125 million takeover of OnTheMarket, one of the U.K.’s three most-visited residential property portals. At the time, CoStar CEO Andy Florence said his company would integrate OnTheMarket into its network and invest millions of dollars in the U.K. business.

“CoStar didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.