Hometrack provides exit for Residex
Hometrack, a United Kingdom based property and housing information provider, purchased a tick under 50 per cent stake in Residex in September 2007, and is now attempting to implement international strategies in the Australian market.
John Edwards owns the controlling stake in Residex, and did not want to sell 100 per cent of the company, but needed to free up some working capital.
"It gave me (the sale) the opportunity to consolidate my shareholding, because I didn't own 100 per cent previously, and at the same time what it allowed me to do was to provide some capital to Residex, which it has always been short of.
"The shareholders of Hometrack and myself now own 100 per cent of Residex, and Residex 100 per cent owns Hometrack Australia."
Hometrack Australia plans to offer automated valuation models (AVMs) locally, with some testing currently under way with Australian banks.
Graeme Winser, director of new market strategies at Hometrack, is responsible for establishing Hometrack Australia, which he will continue to control on returning to the United Kingdom.
"Other data aggregators that may have also been a possibility for us (to invest in) were either to some extent or wholly in our planned AVM space already.
"The key for us is that it's a business that, although different in culture, is similar in that it was privately owned."
Winser said the investment was a way of securing a high volume of quality data, both current and historical.
Hometrack Australia is currently testing with four of the top five Australian lending banks, some of which have supplied up to 30,000 data records to analyse, according to Winser.
"We plan data and relationship partnerships with one or two of the big firms of valuers so that we have a desktop proposition, and value mortgage books for investors and lenders."
Brendon Hulcombe, chief executive of Herron Todd White, Australia's largest employer of valuers, said he would be interested in discussing approaches from the electronic valuing community on how the desktop valuation process could be improved or streamlined.
Edwards did not want to divulge any financial details regarding the the sale of the strategic stake in Residex, but added, "We had very considerable offers on the table when the market suddenly realised there was a stake for sale.
"Where I went did not leave me personally with the best immediate outcome. In my view it leaves me with my best ultimate outcome."
Essentially, Edwards is placing a higher future value on the company.
Brendan Darcy, formally of Citibank Australia, will join Hometrack Australia as the chief executive officer.