HBOS sells stake in Rightmove for 59 mln stg

LONDON (Reuters) - HBOS Plc (HBOS.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Britain's biggest mortgage lender, said on Friday it has sold its remaining 13 percent stake in property website operator Rightmove (RMV.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for 59.2 million pounds ($115.2 million).

HBOS last month made a 4 billion pound ($7.9 billion) cash call and said it will cut its dividend, as it grapples with an increased hit from bad investments and a deteriorating mortgage market.

A spokesman for HBOS, which was one of the founding shareholders in Rightmove through its Halifax Estate Agencies unit, said: "Rightmove was a strategic investment for us and we make disposals from time to time."

HBOS held 20 percent of Rightmove when it floated on the London stock market in 2006 and subsequently sold part of its stake in two tranches last year.

Rightmove, which runs Britain's busiest property website, announced the secondary placing of 16.2 million shares via UBS and Numis Securities earlier on Friday.

The placing weighed on Rightmove's stock which at 1154 GMT was down 3.5 percent at 375 pence. Its shares have dropped 38 percent over the past year.

Earlier this month Rightmove said it was confident of meeting analyst' expectations for full-year profit but that the outlook for the UK housing market was very poor.

(Reporting by Erica Billingham; Editing by Quentin Bryar)