Rightmove rejects £6.2bn takeover offer from REA Group

(Sharecast News) - Rightmove said on Monday that it has rejected a fourth, £6.2bn takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch's Australian property business REA Group as it continues to undervalue the property portal. Under the terms of the latest offer, Rightmove shareholders would have received 346p per share in cash and 0.0417 new REA shares - which implied an offer value of 780p - and a dividend of 6p in cash in lieu of any final dividend for 2024.

"The board of Rightmove has fully reviewed the latest proposal with its financial and legal advisers," it said.

The company said it had taken into consideration the views of its shareholders and also considered the representations from the chair and management team of REA.

"The board has concluded that the latest proposal remains unattractive and continues to materially undervalue Rightmove and its future prospects and that the board cannot recommend the latest proposal to Rightmove shareholders," it said.

Under UK takeover rules, REA still has until 1700 BST on Monday to either make a firm intention to make an offer for Rightmove or walk away.

At 0810 BST, the shares were down 3.6% at 644.80p.

Rightmove chair Andrew Fisher said: "The last few weeks have been very disruptive, as well as unsettling for our colleagues. To the extent REA wants to put forward a further proposal, I urge them to submit a best and final proposal ahead of today's 5pm PUSU deadline such that we can bring certainty to this process."