Telstra and carsales.com.au hook up to drive classifieds business

carsales.com Ltd (ASX: CRZ) and Telstra have entered into an agreement whereby Australia’s newest free classifieds business, quicksales.com.au, will licence the TradingPost.com.au brand and operate the TradingPost.com.au website.

Upon completion, the quicksales and TradingPost sites will feature aggregated inventories, providing TradingPost.com.au consumers with new ways to buy and sell.

quicksales.com.au will provide all transactional and publishing infrastructure along with carsales.com Ltd's industry leading product capability and security measures.

carsales.com Ltd CEO and Managing Director, Greg Roebuck, said the agreement was positive for the local classified marketplace.

“TradingPost.com.au, powered by quicksales.com.au, will tap into quicksales.com.au’s commitment to ongoing innovation. It will offer consumers more choice, but what is also key is that it will enhance the Australian-owned alternative in 'free to list' classifieds.

“Recent years have seen large overseas players like the eBay-owned Gumtree enter the local classified space. This transaction will re-invigorate TradingPost.com.au and also bolster the operation of quicksales.com.au,” he said.

Telstra Media executive director, JB Rousselot, said the partnership would deliver scale and growth opportunities to TradingPost.

“TradingPost is an iconic classified brand held dear to the heart of Australians and in a very competitive market we needed to identify growth opportunities. Importantly, TradingPost will continue as a high-profile classified brand with the additional inventory and features from our partner, quicksales.com.au,” he said.

carsales expects that the agreement will be EPS accretive to it in FY13 and that its obligations under the agreement will be funded by its operating cash flow.

The agreement remains subject to the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Subject to that approval, it is anticipated that the TradingPost.com.au powered by quicksales.com.au site will go live later this year

Register now for the ARN Security Forum 2013 on June 4 at the Sydney Mint

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