Antony Catalano is said to have flown to Los Angeles in December where he dined at an up-market restaurant with a top executive from TPG Capital.
The meeting adds fuel to the theory that TPG could be reviving attempts to embark on a takeover of the Fairfax-backed online real estate company Domain, potentially with the help of Mr Catalano.
His resignation from Domain as its chief executive today due to family reasons came as a surprise to many, almost three months after the company was listed.
It remains unclear what was discussed between the TPG executive and Mr Catalano in LA last month, but there has long been suggestions that the private equity firm could make a further attempt to buy Domain once listed after it launched a bid for the business before.
Mr Catalano and TPG Capital’s Australian head Joel Thickins could not be reached for comment today.
Shares in Domain (
DHG) are currently at around $2.94, down from $3.69 when the business listed in November and its market value is $1.91 billion.
Market analysts now say that Domain is trading at a value that could make sense for TPG.
The US-based private equity firm approached the Fairfax board last year with an offer to buy Domain and the key newspaper mastheads for 95c per share, or $2.29bn.
This was before making a fully-fledged takeover bid for Fairfax at between $1.20 and $1.40 per share, valuing the publisher at between $2.7bn and $3.1bn.
But, after embarking on due diligence, TPG walked away from the publisher of newspaper mastheads including
The Age,
Sydney Morning Herald and
The Australian Financial Review.
Hellman and Friedman, which later lobbed a rival approach, also did not make a formal offer after conducting due diligence.
Sources have said that the management and board have remained upbeat about Domain’s prospects after it hit the boards in November.
At the time, bidders opted not to pursue an acquisition of Fairfax, one of the concerns was about a shared equity model run by Domain.
Under the deal, agents got a percentage of revenues for committing large amounts of advertising.
The percentage which went to agents was under 10 per cent but was a cost which was not reflected in earnings but had to be considered in a valuation of the business.
Both TPG and Mr Catalano declined to comment when contacted by
The Australian.
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