Housing.com joins Aurum’s proptech stable in Rs 458 crore all-stock buyout

India’s property-technology sector just got a little more consolidated. Aurum PropTech’s board approved an all-stock acquisition of Housing.com on Thursday, agreeing to buy 100% of Locon Solutions, the company that owns Housing.com, from REA India for Rs 458 crore.

The payment will come entirely in shares: Aurum will issue 1.98 crore shares at Rs 231.4 each to REA India. That allotment will raise REA Group’s stake in the listed Indian firm from 5.5% to 24.9%. The Australian company has been tied to this business since 2017, when it first invested in Elara Technologies, the former owner of Housing.com, PropTiger.com and Makaan.com, before lifting its stake to 61% in 2020 and renaming the group REA India in 2021.

With Housing.com added to the fold, Aurum now controls a cluster of proptech businesses spanning property listings and lead generation, home rental through NestAway, bought for up to Rs 90 crore in 2023, and student housing via HelloWorld. The company says its goal is to connect property searches, developer inventory, brokers, rentals and transactions across these platforms using a common AI and data infrastructure.

Aurum is also lining up additional capital through its promoter. Aurum RealEstate Developers will receive 51 lakh convertible warrants at the same Rs 231.4 price, a move that could generate up to Rs 118 crore in cash and, if fully converted, would take the promoter’s fully diluted stake in Aurum to 41.1%.

The deal is pending shareholder and regulatory approval and is expected to close by September 30. For REA, the structure preserves its exposure to the Indian real estate market while shifting Housing.com’s day-to-day operations into an Indian-listed group.

Housing.com’s own history has not been without turbulence. Founded in 2012, it became one of India’s most prominent property startups before a 2015 boardroom battle led to the exit of co-founder and chief executive Rahul Yadav, after which the company restructured and reduced its workforce.

Wikimedia Commons/by Kushagra140