Aurum to issue 1.98 crore shares as it buys Housing.com for Rs 458 crore

The numbers behind Aurum PropTech’s takeover of Housing.com are entirely in stock, not cash. The company’s board approved the acquisition on Thursday, agreeing to issue 1.98 crore shares at Rs 231.4 apiece to REA India in exchange for 100% of Locon Solutions, the entity that owns Housing.com. The total deal value works out to Rs 458 crore.

That share issue reshapes the ownership table at Aurum. REA Group, the Australian digital property company behind REA India, currently holds 5.5% of the listed Indian firm; once the new shares are allotted, its stake will rise to 24.9%. REA’s involvement with the underlying business dates to 2017, when it first invested in Elara Technologies, the group that then owned Housing.com, PropTiger.com and Makaan.com, later lifting its stake to 61% in 2020 before Elara was renamed REA India in 2021.

A second piece of financing is happening alongside the acquisition. Aurum will issue 51 lakh convertible warrants to its promoter, Aurum RealEstate Developers, at the same Rs 231.4 price per share, a step that could bring in up to Rs 118 crore in cash if exercised. If those warrants convert in full, the promoter’s fully diluted holding in Aurum would reach 41.1%.

The acquisition adds Housing.com to a portfolio that already includes rental platform NestAway, which Aurum bought for up to Rs 90 crore in 2023 at a sharp discount to its 2019 valuation, and student housing operator HelloWorld. Aurum has said it wants to tie property search, developer inventory, brokers, rentals and transactions together through a shared AI and data infrastructure across these businesses.

Both the share allotment to REA and the warrant issue to the promoter still require shareholder and regulatory approval. Aurum expects the overall transaction to close by September 30.

Housing.com, founded in 2012, has been reshaped by ownership changes before. A 2015 boardroom dispute led to the removal of co-founder and chief executive Rahul Yadav, after which the company restructured its operations and cut staff. It now moves under Aurum’s listed proptech umbrella as REA retains indirect exposure to the Indian market through its enlarged Aurum stake.

Wikimedia Commons/by Kushagra140