Online property marketplace Zoopla has acquired residential property data analytics firm Hometrack for £120m.
Founded in the UK in 1991, Hometrack’s technology is designed to create automated valuation models (AVM) for properties.
Expanding in to the Australian market in 2007, the company is partnered with 15 of the top 20 mortgage lenders in the UK and four of the major Australian mortgage lenders.
It claims to generate 20 million automated property valuations each year and serve more than 400 partners including mortgage lenders, new home developers, investors, housing associations and local authorities.
Zoopla Property Group (ZPG) will finance the deal through a £75m loan and an equity placing of up to 5% of its share capital.
The property marketplace will pay £108m on the completion of the deal and a further £6m on its first and second anniversary.
Zoopla’s founder and CEO Alex Chesterman said the deal will offer “unrivalled capabilities to serve our estate agent and developer partners even more effectively with market-leading valuation tools and data intelligence to help them win more business.”
He added: “Hometrack is a perfect fit for us and I forward to welcoming Charlie and his team to the ZPG family.”
Hometrack’s CEO Charlie Bryant said: “We have had a long-standing relationship with ZPG and share the same vision of using data to help our partners operate more effectively.
“My team and I are very much looking forward to helping develop ZPG’s data services business, further growing the quality and breadth of the services to our partners and cementing ZPG as the market leader for residential property market insights and analytics.”
Hometrack generated pre-EBITDA revenues of £15.5m in the year to 30 June 2016 and employs 55 staff across its London and Sydney offices.
The acquisition follows Zoopla’s recent buys of Property Software Holdings in April for £75m and estate agent-focused design agency Technicweb in November.
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