Quikr buys CommonFloor four months after launching QuikrHomes

Published On: 6 February 2016.By Admin.

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Quikr buys CommonFloor four months after launching QuikrHomes

Aditi Shrivastava & Madhav Chanchani, ET Bureau

MUMBAI | BENGALURU: After months of resisting a potential merger, CommonFloor finally acquiesced. Quikr on Thursday announced acquisition of the property search website for an undisclosed amount in a majority stock-swap transaction, which will give CommonFloor access to the online classifieds firm’s vast customer base.

After the deal, Quikr will be valued at about $1.5 billion (about Rs 10,000 crore) based on the share-swap ratio, a person directly involved in the transaction said. This will catapult it into the rarefied club of Indian Unicorns, or companies worth at least a billion dollars. CommmonFloor, which has built a robust technology platform for home hunters, was unable to raise fund or monetise its business model.

But it presented a right fit for Quikr, which is pursuing a new strategy of building key segments as independent businesses. The deal values it at $100-120 million (Rs 665-800 crore), other sources said, declining to be identified. While neither company confirmed the number, that is a steep drop from a year ago when CommonFloor was valued at about $160 million in its last funding round.

ET first reported about the CommonFloor-Quikr deal in its October 2 edition. Talks between the two companies had been going on for the last 6-7 months. New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management is an investor in both the companies. The purchase comes just four months after Quikr launched its own home search business, QuikrHomes.