On 2 September, REA Group, the property listings company majority-owned by News Corp, said that it was considering buying property portal Rightmove to create a global real estate giant.

Rightmove had a market value of £4.36bn as of Friday’s close but the share price was up more than 20% in early trading on Monday 2 September after the announcement. If the deal goes through, it will be the largest so far this year where an Australian firm buys an overseas company, data from LSEG showed.

REA said it was considering a possible cash and share offer for London-listed Rightmove. It, however, said it had neither approached nor held any talks with Rightmove. REA now has to update the market if it has a firm intention to make a bid by 30 September under the UK’s takeover code.

REA said in a statement: “The REA Board believes that there are clear similarities between REA and Rightmove in terms of their leading market positions in the core residential business, continued expansion and innovation of offerings across adjacent segments, leading audience share and strong brand awareness, as well as highly aligned cultural values.”