Asia-focused online property portal iProperty Group Ltd (ASX: IPP) this morning announced the acquisition of Thailand's number one property website, ThinkOfLiving.com.
The acquisition is expected to cost the business $6 million in cash and $2 million in shares, as well as a component dependent on the future performance of the business.
Siam rising
Australia is far from the only country to have seen a housing boom in recent years, with many South East Asian regions also experiencing record property prices.
King of the castle is Bangkok, the Thai capital and hub of a premium property market where $1 million dollar plus properties regularly exchange hands. Thailand with a population of 68 million has a growing property market fuelled by locals, expatriates and foreign investors.
Online advertising of these properties is usually paid for by the cashed-up property developers and iProperty's latest acquisition says it currently has 106 developers as active clients, including all of the top 20.
If the business is able to build a dominant position in Thailand it will be a major positive for the future.
Eye-watering potential
iProperty is part-owned by Aussie online property phenomenon REA Group Limited (ASX: REA), which is the dominant local property website operator that has quintupled in value over the last five years to have a market-cap of around $6.5 billion.
Notably, iProperty might have even more potential if able to execute on its strategy of becoming the market-leading online property sales aggregator across South East Asia. Its current market value is $588 million with investors already expecting big things.
The stock has lifted 5% to $3.31 in afternoon trade and given that equities and property are the two most potent asset classes known to mankind this stock looks one for the top of the watchlist.
In fact it looks like the kind of stock that may interest some of the world's best investors. However, The Motley Fool has found two stocks it thinks should interest smart investors even more.
