Merger deal between online agents Emoov and Tepilo ‘set to go ahead within days’

Sources say that on-off talks about merging online agents Emoov and Tepilo are likely to result in a deal very shortly.

The new, merged, company looks set to be run by Emoov, and not Tepilo, with the latter’s current owners Northern & Shell possibly wanting to take a back seat.

The deal, when and if concluded, is designed to give the new entity a clear second place behind Purplebricks, leapfrogging Yopa. It will leave perhaps six or seven players in the online space, we have been told.

It is also understood that Emoov has been wooing other possible partners for at least the last year, with rumoured names including House Network and House Simple. It is also believed that Emoov had talks with easyProperty before  its ‘merger’ with the parent company of the Guild, and Fine & Country.

EYE has also been told that the deal between Emoov, founded by Russell Quirk, and Tepilo, founded by TV presenter Sarah Beeny, will present huge economies of scale.

A launch on the London stock market is expected within a one-year timescale, say our sources.

Yesterday, neither Emoov nor Tepilo responded to our requests for a statement. Quirk said he could not comment, and there was no response from Tepilo.

However, Mark Readings of House Network  said: “A merger has been rumoured for the last two years within the online estate agency sector.

“The challenge is of course the integration of the two businesses and timeline to prove concept.

“This is a huge decision and the synergy and personnel dynamic will dictate whether the merger becomes successful, both short- and long-term.”

If the deal goes ahead, there will be backing from Channel 4, which is reputedly offering ‘millions’ of pounds worth of advertising in return for a stake in the new company.

A source told EYE last night that the deal was not yet done, and that talks between Emoov and Tepilo had been on and off, before becoming on again.

We were also told if there is a deal, it will involve a so far un-named third-party lettings company.

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13 Comments

  1. dantheman78

    Wow, two loss making companies merging to form one big loss making company, and when they float the investors will come flocking, I think I’ve read that book before, it was a comedy if I remember or was it fiction

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    1. P-Daddy

      There is good debt and bad debt, but your point is well made dantheman. Look carefully and I think there is a bigger story behind the move with Northern and Shell. Their 2017 financial report is probably due soon and in 2016 they were making big losses. I bet they thought it would be easy money to be an online agent, seduced by the Beeny name and the Purple ‘uber call centre bricks people’, bought her and husband out and now they realise making a profit is not so easy. N&S own the Daily Express and others, and then there is Daily Mail Group being approached for Zoopla…I bet they are cashing in at what they feel is the top of the market, as they can see challenges ahead. Many have missed the similarity to the back story.

      The shake out is beginning……..tick tock

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  2. ArthurHouse02

    Based on the PB model i am sure investors will get involved with the dream of turning their £1 into £3. However as we know with the PB situation most investors will be pushing up daisies before they see any sort of dividend

    Also nice of Emoov/Tepilo to admit that they cant go it along, cant make any money from this online only model and need yet more money to stay afloat. The online sector is not increasing as a whole, just one company is dominating it and the others just cant make an impact.

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  3. Woodentop

    Wasn’t there talk not that long ago about Tepilo being or about to be rained in for its debts? Dantheman78 has a very good point.

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  4. Moveaside01

    The ultimate race to the bottom! Obviously if you have no back up staff to service your clients (and before any pro-onliners get on their high horses) there is no back up staff because at those fees you can’t afford them. So the onliners won’t be able to out do each other on service, so guess what? They’ll start a fee war…………..

    The online model simply doesn’t work, if it did I’d sack all my staff and stick a photo on the internet myself, but it’s not that simple!

    Judgement day is coming, investors will catch on eventually…

     

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  5. Mark Walker

    *’synergy’*

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  6. Property Pundit

    ‘A launch on the London stock market is expected within a one-year timescale, say our sources’.

    An awful lot can happen in one year.

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  7. Sunbeam175

    I’ve heard that ‘Billy Smarts Circus’ is looking at merging with ‘Jerry Cottles Circus’. Enough said.

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    1. Woodentop

      They have clowns

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  8. PeeBee

    The two combined companies have a stock of:

    ‘total’ 4332; ‘unsold’ of 2858 (credit: Zoopla),

    ‘total’ 4273; ‘unsold’ of 2849 (credit: Rightmove).

    Their own websites give different stories.  MUCH different.

    eMoov’s website shows 1386 ‘unsold’ (almost same as the two portal totals) – but 6724 ‘total’!! (Oi tink you need that looked at Mr Quirk before a certain web-footed wassock dobs you in it to @ASA_UK…)

    Tepilo’s site – which is the epitome of woeful cr@pness by the way – shows somewhere between 1 and 178 ‘total’ listings… using ‘UK’ and/or  ‘Great Britain’ (+30 miles) as the search parameter.

    One way or another, they’ll need to be going some to be seen as anything other than a poor relative.

    And I can’t believe I’m actually saying this… but I’m kinda already looking forward to seeing what happens.

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    1. Woodentop

      Beeny was on the telly ads a couple of nights ago, still saying they sell hundreds of properties each month .. strange that.

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  9. Thomas Flowers

    Woodentop

    It appears that the imaginary castle called Tepilo was a  very apt name indeed.

    A bit like Kenilworth castle, looks nice, in parts, from the outside but a ruinous wreck from within?

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  10. South of the City EA

    Did I not read on this very forum only a few weeks ago that Emoov was set for a 10 million profit this year?? And that Emoov CEO, Russell Quirk had made it into the Times top 100 ‘entrepreneurs’.  Not sure I would describe Mr Quirk as an entrepreneur. Do you not have to make a profit for that? To be fair he is a good fundraiser. I’m surprised Sir Bob  Geldof has not been knocking on his door!

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