Malaysia-based and Australia-listed Frontier Digital Ventures has acquired three online property classified portals from Africa’s Jumia in exchange for the former’s classified horizontal platform in West Africa, Afribaba.

Jumia’s portals are existing competitors to Frontier’s current investments in Ghana (meQasa), Nigeria (ToLet) and Angola (AngoCasa).

Under the agreement, Frontier will acquire Jumia’s 100 per cent interests in Jumia House Ghana, Jumia House Nigeria, and Jumia House Angola. With this, it will have market leadership in these three markets, it said in a statement.

Frontier CEO and founder Shaun Di Gregorio said the deal demonstrates the strength of the company’s entrepreneur-led online marketplace model, which provides a significant advantage over competitors which are fully owned and operated remotely by major online marketplace groups.

Jumia had expressed significant interest in acquiring Afribaba, Frontier Digital Ventures said in a statement.

“This transaction was a rare opportunity in the online marketplace space, and we are pleased that Jumia, a major African classifieds investor, reached out to Frontier with a strong desire to acquire Afribaba and complete this transaction,” Di Gregorio said.

“The ultimate result for Frontier shareholders is that we have exited Afribaba and created three new market leaders in property verticals in Ghana, Nigeria and Angola. Our businesses are now in a significantly improved position to commence rapid monetisation,” he added.  – DealstreetAsia