E-commerce retailer Snapdeal is reportedly negotiating a deal with Housing.com wherein the real estate services portal could be valued at approximately $650-700 million, according to a report in International Business Times.
Japan's SoftBank and Nexus Venture Partners may fund the deal. Both SoftBank and Nexus hold stakes in Housing.com and Snapdeal.
Though Snapdeal clears all rumors about the acquisition but people linked with the development have claimed that the talks between the two companies might go on for the next two to four months.
Housing.com said it is not in any such talks and dismissed the media reports as inaccurate.
"The news is completely untrue and inaccurate. We are in NO Talks with anybody for any sale," a company spokesperson said in an email to BW Businessworld.
The Mumbai-based real estate portal has been in news since the controversial exodus of its co-founder Rahul Yadav and firing of around 800 employees in a series of layoffs carried out to meet the cost reduction targets set by its stakeholders. The company has been facing challenges for the past few months due to escalating costs and low demand for its services.
In June last year, there was a rumor that online and mobile classifieds portal Quikr was in talks to acquire Housing.com for Rs 1,100 crore ($175 million) but Quikr ended up by CommonFloor.
Another reason for the possible acquisition might be the consolidation that has happened in the online property portal space. Previous week online classified portal Quikr acquired real estate portal CommonFloor in a $200-million all-stock deal stitched by Tiger Global, main investor in both Quikr and CommonFloor.
In April 2015, real estate portal PropTiger.com, backed by Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corp, acquired Makaan.com for an undisclosed sum to create a common platform.
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld
