The US venture capital firm Silver Lake has made a £2.2 billion to buy ZPG plc (LON: ZPG), owner of property sites Zoopla and PrimeLocation.
The all-cash offer is premium of 31 percent to the closing price of ZPG’s stock value on Thursday. Silver Lake will offer shareholders 490 pence per share.
ZPG’s founder and chief executive said the group would benefit from the takeover.
“In 2008, we transformed the property portal landscape with the introduction of a highly differentiated proposition providing data and delivering transparency to empower consumers to make smarter property decisions,” he said.
“The terms of the acquisition represent an attractive premium that recognises the quality of ZPG’s businesses and the strength of its future prospects and allows shareholders to realise today in cash the potential future value of their holdings.”
The biggest shareholders in ZPG are the Daily Mail newspaper (LON: DMGT), Daily Mail and General Trust.
Paul Zwillenberg, the chief executive of Daily Mail and General Trust, was optimistic of the deal.
“The sale of our stake, pending shareholder approval at ZPG, fits with our long track record of successfully identifying new opportunities, incubating young businesses and supporting their growth to create value for shareholders,” he said.
The Zoopla group also own PrimeLocation, Hometrack and money.co.uk.
ZPG is being advised by Credit Suisse (NASDAQ: TVIX) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018.
Shares in ZPG shot up 30 percent at the open on Friday.
