Dubai's AlBabWorld.com relaunches as propertyfinder.ae, sells 51% to REA Group

Founders Michael Lahyani and Leonard Dionisotti will retain 49% of AlBabWorld.com through their Swiss Media Group and continue to operate the business.

Following the acquisition, REA Group has relaunched AlabWorld.com as propertyfinder.ae, taking the name from its popular propertyfinder.com, which is the second largest real estate portal in the UK.

The rebranding and the linking of the Dubai website into the REA Group is a striking deal for Dubai's property market. Now, propertyfinder.ae offers to Dubai real estate agents and developers access to a potential global audience of 7.7 million unique browsers—one third of which is located in the UK, an important group of foreign investors in Dubai.

Founded two years ago, AlBabWorld successfully advertised for some of the region's leading real estate developers and real estate agents, such as Asteco, Connection Properties, Engel & Voelkers and Taktical.

REA Group paid $1m and injected $2.1m of equity into the venture (approx. Dhs3.7m and Dhs7.7m, respectively).

"We anticipate significant future growth in the Gulf region," said Simon Baker, the REA Group's CEO and Managing Director. "We will use the expertise we've developed serving 19,000 agents in nine other countries to provide more leads to local real estate agents and better service to in Dubai."

Michael Lahyani, the Managing Director of AlBabWorld, said, "By rebranding the site as propertyfinder.ae, we hope to make it easier for advertisers to reach the buyers moving between the UK and UAE, as well as those of other countries."

Roy Saker, Associate Director for Colliers International, one of Dubai's largest real estate agents, said, "At Colliers International, we increasingly use online advertising to introduce the properties we represent to the affluent, connected, overseas buyers who invest in Dubai properties. Propertyfinder.ae is the first strong option we have seen for doing this."