Auction giant Ten-X to sell to private equity firm for more than $1B

Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners is purchasing the online real estate marketplace Ten-X for more than $1 billion.

The company, formerly Auction.com, brokers both commercial and residential sales on its platform, the Orange County Business Journal reported. It has sold more than $50 billion worth of properties since it was founded a decade ago, according to the publication.

Ten-X described the sale as a “majority recapitalization.” The senior management and prior investors will keep minority stakes in Ten-X. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter. Auction.com sold a 50 percent stake to Connecticut-based Stone Point Capital, according to the publication. CapitalG injected $50 million into the company in 2014. Another investor is said to be Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group, though the size of its stake is unclear.

Last year, the company launched a traditional sales platform, Ten X-Commercial.

Ten-X faces a heap of competition from well-capitalized rivals. Redfin, another real estate tech company, made a strong debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange last week, and now has a market cap of over $2.4 billion. And Seattle-based Zillow Group, which owns Trulia and StreetEasy, has a market cap north of $8 billion. [Orange County Business Journal] — Miriam Hall