Following almost a month of speculation, James Packer, along with a prominent hedge fund, has finally moved to pick up a massive stake in daily deals sites.

Mr Packer's Consolidated Press Holdings and New York-based Tiger Global Management Management teamed up with Andrew Basset, co-founder of Seek, and Glenn Poswell of Gannet Capital to invest a combined $80 million into the burgeoning online shopping sector, snapping up minority stakes in the two of the fastest growing local websites, CatchOfTheDay and Scoopon.

Under the terms of the transaction, the consortium will take a 40 per cent stake in CatchOfTheDay and Scoopon, valuing the businesses at a total of $200 million.

Mr Packer said, “Unlike many other players in the market, the team’s proven experience in building profitable e-commerce businesses, means they have the skills, supplier networks and economies of scale to keep growing and leading the market.

“We are excited to align ourselves with the market leader in the online daily deals sector in Australia,” he said.

CatchOfTheDay is said to be the No. 1 online retailer within Australia while Scoopon claims to hold the top position in the group-buying sector. Both take in a total of 150,000 daily visitors and employ more than 100 staff in Melbourne.

Founders Gabby and Hezi Leibovich, will retain a controlling stake in the group businesses, with Lee Fixel from Tiger Global and Jason Lenga from Seek joining the board.

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