Real estate listings portal Domain has agreed to buy campaign management platform Realbase for $180 million.
In an announcement to the ASX on April 1, the portal said the binding agreement, which included a contingent consideration of up to $50 million based on Realbase’s financial performance targets, was a “significant step forward in the evolution of Domain’s Marketplace strategy.”
The acquisition of Realbase is aimed at accelerating the scale and impact of Domain’s Agent Solutions business unit to create an end-to-end solution for real estate agents.
It also increases market coverage from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of all Australian property transactions.
Domain’s largest shareholder, Nine Entertainment Co, supports the acquisition and equity raising with a commitment to take up 100 per cent of its entitlement offer, which represents 59 per cent of the equity raising.
Domain Chief Executive Officer Jason Pellegrino said the acquisition of Realbase strengthened its position as the leading provider of end-to-end agent workflow solutions.
“Our mission in Agent Solutions is to build on our track record of trusted partnerships with agents to help them build profitable and sustainable businesses, and deliver value at every stage of the property journey,” he said.
“For some time we have been impressed by Realbase’s technological capabilities and products including innovative campaign management, high growth digital proposals and a rapidly expanding social media marketing offer.
“Each of Realbase’s solutions complements and extends the value proposition Domain can take to agents.”
Realbase is the largest campaign management technology platform in Australia and New Zealand, providing services to agents on 40 per cent of property transactions.
It operates through two key brands, Realhub and Campaigntrack, which enable real estate agents to construct, price, order and track the campaign marketing products required to list and market a property on-market and off-market.
The business was expected to make about $22 million revenue in the 2022 financial year and $9 million EBITDA.
Realbase Chief Executive Officer Frank Greeff said the platform was compatible with Domain from both a technology perspective and with regards to team culture.
“Realbase has a mission to transform real estate through technology, striving to provide customers with the best suite of tools,” he said.
“We are looking forward to scaling and growing alongside a company with a long-standing reputation for trust and quality in the industry.
“As a collective, our focus is to help agents win listings, and market and sell properties, and the combination with Domain will allow us to continue to provide immense value to our clients.
“The connection of our best-in-class tools with Domain’s existing agent solutions, and buyer and seller focused portal offering is a perfect match.”
