Property website Rightmove has completed its acquisition of Van Mildert, a Newcastle-based provider of tenant referencing services and rent guarantee insurance products.
Van Mildert’s software enables letting agents to order, track and receive tenant references.
Rightmove will pay an initial £16m alongside deferred consideration based on the revenue performance of the business which is capped at £4m.
Van Mildert’s founder, Christian Balshen, will continue to lead the Van Mildert team from its Newcastle office and work to leverage the scale benefits that the Rightmove platform can bring.
Van Mildert has been advised by RG Corporate Finance’s head of corporate finance Carl Swansbury and corporate finance Manager David Nixon, with accounting and tax advice from RG Partner Deborah Graham and Senior Manager Stephen Callaghan.
Additional tax advice has been provided by Field Fisher with legal advice from Katherine Hay-Heddle, corporate partner at Ward Hadaway.
Swansbury said: “This is a significant moment for Van Mildert, which has enjoyed sustained growth since it was founded and being part of Rightmove will provide a springboard to greater opportunities and expansion of its market share.
“Working closely with Christian and his team for seven years we have seen how the business is fulfilling its potential making it attractive to investors, initially through private equity and now with this acquisition by Rightmove.”