Tariq Ahmed Saeedi | March 09, 2020 | Real Estate, Financials / Deals

Frontier Digital Ventures (ASX: FDV) has increased its stake real estate marketplaces IMyanmarHouse.com and LankaPropertyWeb.com in deals worth around $1.8 million AUD ($1.2 million U.S.).

FDV, a classified and marketplace operator focused on emerging markets, raised its stake in Myanmar-based IMyanmarHouse.com to 52.6% from 42.6% at a cost of $1.4 million AUD ($930,000 U.S.).

IMyanmarHouse logged a 39% surge in revenue last year, topping out at $1.9 million AUD.

FDV also acquired a majority stake in Sri Lankan LankaPropertyWeb.com. The company increased its stake to 53% from 47.8% through the conversion of a $368,000 AUD loan facility.

The investments followed the recent sale of FDV’s 20% stake in Vietnamese real estate vertical Propzy for $4.7 million U.S., the first material monetization event in FDV’s history.

Last December, Malaysia-based FDV raised its stake in South American real estate classified site InfoCasas.com and Philippines-based auto marketplace AutoDeal.com.ph.

FDV’s founder Shaun Di Gregorio said the investments are consistent with the company’s long term strategy of creating a portfolio of profitable online classified businesses.

“Online classified businesses typically experience a significant equity value inflection point around the period of achieving profitability, and generally become harder and more expensive to buy at that time, so we are delighted to be increasing our shareholding in IMyanmarHouse,” Gregorio said in a statement.

“Similarly, LankaPropertyWeb’s ascension to become the leader in Sri Lankan property classifieds market provides a strong foundation for growth on the path to profitability.” – AIMGroup