Did big boss Softbank say no? Housing.com deal talks with PropEquity fall through

Real estate portal Housing.com has called off negotiations to acquire online subscription-based real estate data and analytics platform PropEquity, reportedly on the advice of its largest investor SoftBank Group.

With investors now exercising a larger control over the company’s day-to-day operations, the entire deal, which would have given Housing a ready revenue stream from B2B clients, has hit a road block. PropEquity’s  clients are mainly real estate private equity investors, developers, and BFSI industry. The company  spots market trends, and generate macro/micro analytics.

According to a report in the Business Standar _d_, the deal was called off due to valuation issues.

PropEquity’s Chief Executive officer Samir Jasuja was quoted by BS as saying, “Our’s is a hugely profitable company with over Rs 17 crore in bank and its last year’s profit is three times the revenue of Housing at Rs 4 crore. Housing.com cannot afford us. He added that “the internal squabble between investors and the founders has impacted the deal.”

Another report in the Hindu Business Line suggests that Housing had placed a Rs 80-crore bid. But Softbank, the majority investor in Housing, felt that the deal should be concluded for about Rs 20-30 crore.

PropEquity recorded revenues of Rs 13.47 crore in 2014 and losses of Rs 75 lakh.

Moreover, Housing CEO Rahul Yadav’s earlier mov e  of gifting his entire personal shareholding to the employees of the company has only aggravated his already strained relationship with investors. Reports had earlier claimed that the investors were not consulted about Yadav’s gift as their waiver of right of first refusal was necessary as per the shareholders’ agreement.

Flush with funds, Housing is currently in talks to acquire Realty Business Intelligence  as it looks to acquire companies in the data and research space to strengthen its services.

It acquired  Indian Real Estate Forum (IREF), a forum where registered users can exchange information, experiences and views on realty projects,  for around Rs 8 crore.

Last week, Housing  not only announced its presence in 101 cities but also said that it is eyeing international realty market for expanding its business and is looking at regions like South East Asia and Middle East.

The Mumbai-based startup has so far raised over $120 million in four rounds from private equity firms like SoftBank, Falcon Edge, Nexus Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, among others.