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A consortium including the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Link Administration Holdings and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners is set to acquire a major Aussie tech group for around $1.6 billion.
The bidders have announced they will acquire Property Exchange Australia Limited (PEXA) after shareholders at PEXA agreed to the deal.
With their collective shareholding now exceeding 50 per cent, PEXA's planned IPO has been cancelled.
PEXA is an online property exchange network that assists members (such as lawyers, conveyancers and financial institutions) to lodge documents with Land Registries and complete financial settlements electronically.
As part of the transaction CBA will invest a further $50 million, totalling approximately $100 million invested in PEXA since 2011.
CBA chief executive officer Matt Comyn says the bank has been a major backer of PEXA since its inception.
"Having been a key stakeholder in PEXA since its inception in 2011, today's announcement represents our continued commitment to support the property industry as it transitions towards an innovative, fully digital, settlements process that aims to provide improved experiences for customers," says Comyn.
PEXA CEO Marcus Price says the work done over the last eight years at the company has paid off with the acquisition.
"I am immensely proud of what the PEXA team has achieved in building and operating Australia's first operational online property lodgement and settlement network, following eight years' of development with government and private stakeholders," says Price.
"The sale of the business comes at a natural time in the company's evolution, to both crystallise a return for shareholders and to transition to a new aligned ownership base, capable of leveraging the company's advantageous position to drive our multi-horizon growth strategies."
Shares in CBA closed at 67.98 per share on Monday afternoon.
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