CoStar offers $6.9B to buy CoreLogic

Amount is 20 percent higher than deal accepted by Stone Point, Insight Partners

CoStar's Andy Florance and CoreLogic’s Frank D. Martell (Photos via Getty; Twitter)
CoStar's Andy Florance and CoreLogic’s Frank D. Martell (Photos via Getty; Twitter)

CoStar isn’t going quietly into the night.

The spurned data giant — which earlier this month made a failed bid to buy CoreLogic — is back with a competing proposal to buy the company for nearly $7 billion.

The bid is 20 percent higher than a previously-accepted offer by Stone Point Capital and Insight Partners, which struck a deal to buy CoreLogic for $80 per share, or $6 billion. CoStar’s new offer amounts to $95.76 per share.

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CoStar’s new bid is the latest twist in its monthslong pursuit of CoreLogic.

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CoreLogic has been in play since last spring, when activists investors Senator Investment Group and Cannae Holdings began agitating for a sale. They offered $65 a share in June 2020.

In a letter sent to CoreLogic’s board Tuesday, CoStar CEO Andy Florance said he was stunned to read about the Stone Point-Insight deal, which was “materially less” than CoStar’s all-stock offer.

“We do not believe the Pending Transaction maximizes value for CoreLogic stockholders and we continue to believe in the strong strategic rationale for the combination of our two companies,” he wrote.

Citing CoStar’s prior acquisitions of LoopNet and Apartments.com, Florance said linking up would accelerate CoreLogic’s growth. And the combination of CoStar’s portfolio and CoreLogic’s residential tools would “create massive cross-selling opportunities,” resulting in “hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue synergies.”