REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) has announced about its plan to acquire a 14.7% strategic stake in PropTiger, a leading digital real estate marketing platform in India. PropTiger currently owns and operates proptiger.com, Makaan.com and has recently revealed about its acquisition of Housing.com. The combined network of digital property portals has established a top three position in the Indian market. Further, PropTiger offers a full range of online and offline property services, such as personalised search, virtual viewing, site visits, legal and financial diligence, negotiations, property registration, home loans and post-sales services, and this is one of a kind.
 
REA Group’s stake is said to be acquired for a cash consideration of AUD 67.9 million (USD 50 million), and will be funded by existing cash reserves. This investment is said to be a cornerstone one and will be accounted for as an associate with completion expected in the month of January. REA also intends to appoint a Director to the holding company board.
 
It is worth noting that REA is pitching in for a gamble in India’s real estate market which is being valued at US 180 billion by 2020 and this move seems to offer a great play for REA. India is considered the fastest growing property markets in the world and is seeing a rapid transition from traditional to digital real estate advertising. The digital real estate advertising currently is estimated to be in its nascent stage in India and will grow at the back of the growth in urban population (from 420 million in 2015 to 583 million by 2030).
 
REA believes that the move is well aligned with company’s global strategy, and expands REA’s footprint in Asia following the iProperty Group acquisition.
 
The stock has gone up about 0.5% on ASX following the announcement on January 10, 2017, and has surged about 9.2% in last one month.

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