Bengaluru: Aurum PropTech will acquire Housing.com for Rs 458 crore in an all-stock deal that will give Australian digital property company REA Group a 24.9% stake in the listed Indian firm.Aurum’s board on Thursday approved the acquisition of 100% of Locon Solutions, which owns Housing.com, from REA India. Aurum will issue 1.98 crore shares at Rs 231.4 apiece to the seller instead of paying cash.REA already owns 5.5% of Aurum. Its holding will rise to 24.9% after the share allotment. The transaction requires shareholder and regulatory approvals and is expected to close by September 30.Aurum will separately issue 51 lakh convertible warrants to its promoter, Aurum RealEstate Developers, at the same price. The cash infusion could total up to Rs 118 crore. If fully converted, the promoter will own 41.1% of Aurum on a fully diluted basis.The deal will bring Housing.com into Aurum’s property technology portfolio, which already includes home rental platform NestAway and student housing business HelloWorld. Aurum said it plans to connect property searches, developer inventory, brokers, rentals and transactions through a common AI and data infrastructure.Housing.com was founded in 2012 and offers property listings, advertising, lead generation and home loan brokerage services.REA Group first invested in Elara Technologies, which owned Housing.com, PropTiger.com and Makaan.com, in 2017. It increased its stake to 61% in 2020 before Elara was renamed REA India the following year. Under the latest share-swap deal, REA will retain exposure to the Indian real estate market through its stake in Aurum.Aurum bought NestAway for up to Rs 90 crore in 2023, a steep markdown from the rental startup’s 2019 valuation. That sale later became the subject of a dispute.Housing.com has also had a turbulent corporate history. Founded in 2012, it became one of India’s most high-profile property startups before a public boardroom battle led to the removal of co-founder and chief executive Rahul Yadav in 2015. The company subsequently restructured its operations and cut jobs.
