UAE’s Bayut.com owner raises $50m in new round

Emerging Markets Property Group plans further consolidation and investments

Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG), the parent company of UAE real estate portal Bayut, closed a $100 million investment. Satish Kumar / The National

Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG), the parent company of UAE real estate portal Bayut.com, closed a $50 million investment tranche as part of a larger fundraising round intended to fund future acquisitions.

Of the total, $25m is to be deployed in the UAE with a focus on “further consolidation”, said Haider Ali Khan, chief executive of Bayut.com, in a statement on Thursday. “The remaining funds will be used to further strengthen EMPG’s leading position in its other markets,” he said. The names of the investors were not disclosed.

EMPG owns and operates a portfolio of property rental and sales websites that also includes Pakistan-based Zameen.com and Bangladesh-based bproperty.com, and in May acquired Morocco-based property website Mubawab for an undisclosed sum.

EMPG has raised $60m through four previous rounds. The current round is its largest to date, bringing the total to $110m.

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The group has presence in 40 cities across the UAE, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Spain and Romania with over 1,500 employees. Bayut.com was set up in 2008 and is headquartered in Dubai Design District.

“With a compound annual revenue growth rate of over 100 per cent over the last five years, more than 15,000 real estate agencies, and 8 million-plus monthly visits across our portals, EMPG is ideally positioned for regional dominance,” the company’s group chief executive Imran Ali Khan said.

EMPG recorded 124 per cent year-on-year increase in revenues in the first half of 2017, with growth in the UAE 112 per cent up year-on-year in the same period, the company told The National in May.