(Bloomberg) -- Shares of Rightmove Plc slid the most in almost a year after REA Group Ltd., whose four takeover proposals in less than a month were rebuffed by the British property portal, walked away from its pursuit of the London-listed firm.

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The Australian company doesn’t intend to make an offer for Rightmove, it said in a statement on Monday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. Rightmove earlier reiterated that the latest proposal valuing it at £6.2 billion ($8.3 billion) remained unattractive. It also rejected REA’s request to extend a deadline and piled pressure on REA Group to submit its “best and final proposal” before 5 p.m. London time, Monday.

A “lack of meaningful engagement and the consistent lack of information provided by Rightmove impeded the ability to progress discussions” and work toward a recommended transaction, within the timetable permitted, REA said in the statement.

Rightmove’s stock plunged as much as 11% on Monday, the biggest intraday loss since October last year, before closing down 8%. It’s still up 11% from its Aug. 30 closing price before the news of REA’s interest emerged. Shares of Melbourne-based REA jumped as much as 4% in early trading Tuesday after the company abandoned its pursuit of Rightmove.

“While REA’s withdrawal of a potential offer was likely driven by lack of engagement from Rightmove, more so than REA being disciplined, we expect shareholders to be relieved that REA decided to not go ahead with a potential offer, especially given our analysis suggested limited accretion,” Siraj Ahmed, an analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Australia wrote in a note.

While another bid for Rightmove next year can’t be ruled out, REA is more likely to return excess capital to shareholders through a special dividend, Ahmed said.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:

“REA’s withdrawal from a potential buyout of its UK peer Rightmove, worth more than A$12 billion, lifts a weight off its valuation until it finds a new strategy. REA’s free cash generation leads its domestic peer’s, leaving it at a crossroads between further M&A, higher investment in India or increased shareholder distribution, with the latter two options seeming more shareholder friendly.”

—Jack Baxter, BI analyst

Rightmove — the UK’s go-to website for property listings — said it is confident of serving shareholders through its standalone strategic plan, with sales expected to rise by a further high-single-digit percentage in 2024-25. The portal is poised to benefit as declining interest rates and the Labour government’s planning reforms look set to boost the housing market.

“The board remains confident in Rightmove’s standalone prospects, as the clear leader in the UK property ecosystem,” the UK company said in a statement on Monday.

While Rightmove enjoys the largest market share in the UK property portal market, rival OnTheMarket recently launched an expansion drive after being acquired by CoStar Group Inc. Giles Thorne, a Jefferies analyst, described CoStar’s investment in OnTheMarket as “a serious competitive threat.”

The rejection dashes REA’s goal of moving into another global market. The largest player in the Australian online real estate industry, which is part of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s empire, has already expanded into India and planned to have a secondary stock market listing in London if it bought Rightmove.

The latest stock-and-cash proposal by REA implied an offer value of 780 pence apiece, plus a 6 pence dividend in cash, Rightmove said in an earlier statement. Based on REA’s share price on Sept. 27, it valued Rightmove 11% higher than REA’s initial bid and about 40% above the company’s market price before the takeover interest emerged.

REA was obliged to make a final decision by Monday’s regulatory deadline of 5 p.m. London time.

“We are always financially disciplined when we look at M&A and reinvestment in our business and will continue to focus on the many other opportunities ahead of us,” REA’s Chief Executive Officer Owen Wilson said in the statement.

--With assistance from Elffie Chew, Vinicy Chan and Peter Vercoe.

(Adds REA share reaction in fourth paragraph, analyst comment in fifth.)

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