PATRICK Grove (caricature) , the 40-year old co-founder, group chief executive officer and chairman of the Catcha group of companies, a Kuala Lumpur-based private investment firm, must surely feel vindicated that his RM900,000 bet on a little-known property portal back in 2007 has paid off big time.
REA Group Ltd, an Australian digital-advertising company, has offered to take the Sydney-listed property portal, now known as iProperty Group Ltd, private for A$4 per share. Shareholders have also been given the option of cash and shares, at A$1.20-a-share and 0.7 shares, in a private company that will have an indirect interest in iProperty.