17 Aug 2023

NZME buys remaining shares in OneRoof from joint venture partner

10:17 am on 17 August 2023
The Commerce Commission has declined a merger which would have created New Zealand’s biggest news media company
Fairfax Media NZ, Stuff.co.nz, 
NZME, NZ Herald.

The purchase brings NZME's shareholding in OneRoof to 100 percent. Photo: RNZ / Brad White

Media company NZME has bought the 20 percent of shares in OneRoof it did not already own for $2.1 million.

The purchase brings NZME's shareholding in OneRoof to 100 percent with payment to be made in a series of instalments through to July 2026.

Chief executive Michael Boggs said OneRoof was one of the company's key strategic pillars.

"When NZME launched OneRoof.co.nz in 2018, it was immediately a huge disruptor in the real estate industry," he said.

"Five years later it is a well known, respected, comprehensive property platform that is highly valued by agents and the wider real estate industry, as well as vendors, home buyers, investors and the general public.

"NZME views the property industry as an area of future growth and untapped potential, and as we start to see positive signs of NZ's real estate industry recovering, we're looking forward to continuing to grow our OneRoof offering well into the future."

The company exercised its option, granted in 2018, to acquire the remaining shares from joint venture partner Hougarden.com Limited.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the week.

"Hougarden has been a tremendous partner of OneRoof and NZME," Boggs said.

"We look forward to continuing our positive relationship with them as a service supplier to OneRoof in the years ahead."

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs