Capital strategy, merger and trade sale - Occupancy


Occupancy engaged Hall Capital in 2010 to advise the company in relation to the merger of online accommodation sites Rentahome.com.au and Takeabreak.com.au and assess capital strategy options for the group following the merger.

The merger was successfully completed in July 2010 with significant merger synergies flowing from the outset. Following the merger, Hall Capital ran a global strategic partnering process and received a number of highly attractive bids to purchase all or part of Occupancy.

The result was that in March 2011 Occupancy was sold to Fairfax Media, which owns the market leading site Stayz. The price was $29.1M which represents a multiple of 9.1x calendar year 2011 forecast earnings. The price was divided between $17.9M cash and $11.2M in Stayz shares (10% of Stayz)