CoStar ups its bid to acquire CoreLogic

Move escalates bidding war to buy real estate data company

Photo illustration of CoStar Group CEO Andrew Florance (iStock, Getty/Illustration by Kevin Rebong for The Real Deal)
Photo illustration of CoStar Group CEO Andrew Florance (iStock, Getty/Illustration by Kevin Rebong for The Real Deal)

 

The fight for the future of CoreLogic continues.

CoStar Group upped its offer to acquire the real estate data company to $97 per share, an increase over its most recent offer of $95.76 per share, Bloomberg News reported.

The latest offer is also $17 per share higher than the recent agreement CoreLogic made with Stone Point Capital and Insight Partners, who agreed to buy the company for approximately $6 billion.

CoStar also attempted to sweeten the deal by structuring its offer so that shareholders would receive about $6 per share in cash, along with CoStar stock. It also offered to pay a $165 million termination fee.

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“CoStar Group is committed to moving forward with such a transaction,” CoStar Chief Executive Officer Andrew Florance said in a letter to CoreLogic’s board, according to Bloomberg News. “We expect the CoreLogic board to deem this proposal to be a ‘superior proposal’ within 48 hours.”

But that may not necessarily be the case. Despite submitting a higher bid initially, CoStar was passed over by CoreLogic in favor of the offer from Stone Point Capital and Insight Partners — and it still prefers that offer, the publication reported.

In its fourth quarter earnings call, CoStar reported a 19 percent increase in revenue, largely driven by the acquisition of such companies as Ten-X, Emporis and Homesnap. It plans to acquire more companies in the residential space in 2021.

[Bloomberg News] — Sasha Jones