By Karen Peattie

With a reputation for getting what he wants, Rupert Murdoch seems determined to expand his digital property empire as the Australia’s Rea Group yesterday tabled its third offer for the high-profile UK online property portal Rightmove.

Rightmove roundly rejected Melbourne-based Rea’s two previous offers earlier this month – but this time the property website’s board has said it will “carefully consider the increased proposal”.

By making a third offer for Rightmove, Rea is clearly serious about landing the UK market leader but as Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell points out, “there is only so much of a song and dance you can do with takeovers”. He says: “Rea really needs to show its best and final offer. If it’s still not enough to win over Rightmove’s board and shareholders, the bidder needs to walk away and think about different ways to expand its empire.”

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, credited Rea with “determination to gain a big foothold in the UK property search market by significantly upping its takeover bid for Rightmove”. She also notes: “The group is frustrated by a lack of engagement from Rightmove which has clearly been holding out for a much higher offer after the first highly opportunistic bid.”

If there is a takeover, it would make Rightmove the latest of London’s blue-chip companies to disappear from the FTSE 100 index.

Is this new offer of about £6.1 billion, or 770p per share, going to be enough to satisfy shareholders? It’s unlikely, says AJ Bell’s Mr Mould although he conceded that “this looks like a serious pursuit, albeit one where the bidder’s idea of fair value still doesn’t align with shareholders’ expectations”.

Rightmove, which acts as a “shop window” for estate agents to list properties for sale, has dominated the buying and selling market in the UK and challenged the traditional high street estate agency model in recent years. Its portal also allows buyers and sellers to track market trends in their area.

It has rivals – OnTheMarket and Zoopla – but Rightmove continues to retain its crown. Rea’s interest, therefore, makes sense as it leads the digital online property market in Australia. And although Rea said it was “genuinely disappointed at the lack of engagement” by the board of Rightmove, the fact that the UK business is now prepared to look at the offer tabled shifts the dial on the potential deal.

However, Rightmove’s chair, Andrew Fisher, remains steadfast in his view that Rightmove is “an exceptional company with a very clear strategy, a consistent track record of delivery and a strong management team”, noting: “The board is confident in the company’s short and long-term prospects and sees a long runway for continued shareholder value creation.

“Based on the implied value and structure of Rea’s first and second indicative non-binding proposals, we considered these proposals to be uncertain, highly opportunistic and unattractive. Accordingly, the board unanimously rejected them.

“The board will continue to act on behalf of our shareholders and respond to the most recent proposal in due course.”