The owners of property website Daft.ie have appointed corporate advisers to value the business after they received unsolicited approaches from a number of potential buyers.

Market sources said A-Plan, the adviser run by former Merrion Capital executive Pat Landy, had placed a valuation range of €10-€15 million on the website, which was set up in 1997 by two brothers from Dublin.

Such a valuation reflects the site's strength in the market and the fact that it claims to carry adverts for up to 30,000 properties at any one time.

Brian Fallon (23) owns 90 per cent of Daft Media Ltd and Eamonn Fallon (28) owns the other 10 per cent. "We have received proposals and everything will be judged on its merits. We're happy with our current position and with the likely growth that is ahead of us," said Brian Fallon.

He declined to reveal who had approached the business and said it was not for sale at present. While a valuation process is underway, it is understood that the company's contacts with its potential acquirers are not yet to at an advanced stage.

The selection of advisers by the Fallon brothers raises prospects of the two biggest Irish property websites changing hands now that the owners of Daft's rival, Myhome.ie, have also initiated a strategic review of their business.

IBI Corporate Finance is examining that business and a sale or expansion through acquisition is considered to be the most likely outcome of that process.

The latest available abridged accounts for Daft Media reveal very little about its financial performance. The company had only €449 in its profit and loss account at the end of June 2004.

However, it is said to be growing rapidly. Daft.ie has a low-cost online advertising model and it claims to be the biggest property site in the Irish market.