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- REA Group (REA) acquires a 34 per cent interest in Simpology, a provider of mortgage applications and e-lodgement solutions
- The $15 million consideration for the transaction was funded from existing cash reserves, with REA to take two seats on the board
- This transaction, which follows REA’s announcement in March about the planned purchase of Mortgage Choice, accelerates the group’s financial services strategy
- REA Group said the alliances will enable “REA to provide consumers with greater choice and simplicity when navigating their home loan options”
- Shares in REA Group are up 1.63 per cent to $169.42 each at 12:48 pm AEST
REA Group (REA) has acquired a 34 per cent interest in Simpology, a provider of mortgage applications and e-lodgement solutions.
The $15 million consideration for the transaction has been funded from existing cash reserves, with REA to take two seats on the board.
This transaction, which follows REA’s announcement in March about the planned purchase of Mortgage Choice, accelerates the group’s financial services strategy.
According to a March 29 release, REA stated it planned to buy 100 per cent of Mortgage Choice’s outstanding shares for $1.95 apiece through its wholly owned subsidiary REA Financial Services, valuing the acquisition at around $244 million.
The company just received the go-ahead from the Foreign Investment Review Board for the purchase, as REA Group is majority-owned by US-listed News Corp.
“REA’s investment in Simpology reinforces our commitment to delivering the best end-to-end mortgage application solution for consumers, our brokers and their clients,” REA Group CEO Owen Wilson said.
“Simpology has deep integrations into over 30 lenders and over 12,000 brokers. Our partnership will provide a step-change in the loan selection and digital application experience that REA can deliver to the 12 million Australians who visit realestate.com.au each month.”
Simpology offers lenders and broker partners in Australia and New Zealand mortgage application and e-lodgement solutions, which allow brokers to submit home loan applications directly into the back-end systems of lenders.
REA Group said the alliances will enable “REA to provide consumers with greater choice and simplicity when navigating their home loan options”.
The company said it will also deliver on productivity improvements to its broker network through “higher quality loan submissions, resulting in less re-work, faster loan approval times and streamlined business operations”.
Shares in REA Group were up 1.65 per cent to $169.45 each at 12:55 pm AEST.
