Retail consultancy Franchise India has picked up a 51 per cent stake in global real estate brokerage RE/MAX’s India arm for an estimated Rs 50 crore.
Franchise India’s real estate unit, BusinessEx, acquired the stake from Cybiz Realty, the master franchisor of RE/MAX India. Franchise India and Cybiz have formed a joint venture called BusinessX Cybiz Realty.
“With Goods and Services Tax expected to bring transparency in real estate transactions, we believe the time is right for setting up the JV,” RE/MAX India chairman Sam Chopra said, adding that the deal was one of the biggest acquisitions in this space.
The JV will infuse Rs 50 crore as growth capital at a valuation of over Rs 100 crore.
RE/MAX India, till now owned by Cybiz Realty, will be part of the JV under the Franchise India umbrella and plans aims to set up 1,000 franchise offices by 2020, Chopra said. He added that the entity will infuse additional investments into incubating realty technology startups.
“The new regulations introduced in the real estate industry would see much-needed consolidation in the sector,” said Franchise India and BusinessEx founder Gaurav Marya. “We believe the entity will enable us to rapidly scale up the network of RE/MAX in India by converting independent brokers to the RE/MAX network.”
