EasyProperty "may be worth £1 billion by 2018" says Chief Executive
After Purplebricks floated, easyProperty said it has no plans to list for another two years. However, in an interview with Reuters, Chief Executive, Rob Ellice said that he hopes the company will be worth £1bn by 2018. This comes after easyProperty secured financial backing from hedge fund Toscafund, as we reported last week. "We're not up for sale at the moment. We are acquisitive and aggressive at the moment," said Ellice, hinting that the company is open to buying current agencies that work in similar markets. 

Ellice says putting a flotation on the back burner has come about as a result of securing financial backing from hedge fund Toscafund.

The valuation claim has come from easyProperty chief executive Rob Ellice in an interview with news agency Reuters.

In the week that Purplebricks floats on the stock market, rival agency easyProperty says it will not list for two years - but by that time it may be worth over £1 billion.

easyProperty raised £25m in its latest funding round last week - that’s five times the target which it sought - and Toscafund alone appears to have put in £14m. The placing could have been oversubscribed 10 times over with one US-based investor wanting to put in £25m and interest expressed from investors in Monaco and the United Arab Emirates.

"With Tosca on board, and they're very keen to back us in a large way, there is really no need to rush to market. So, I think we will now delay our outlook to list, just because we don't need to" Reuters has been told by Ellice, who is the company's largest shareholder.

"We're not up for sale at the moment. We are acquisitive and aggressive at the moment," says Ellice, adding that easyProperty is open to the possibility of buying existing agencies that operate in some of its target markets, such as student accommodation.

Meanwhile the most successful of the new wave of online agencies, Purplebricks, floats on Thursday.