CoreLogic Entertaining Suitors, Including CRE Data Giant CoStar
A number of investors, including commercial real estate data giant CoStar Group and a separate consortium of private equity firms, are in talks with CoreLogic to acquire that company in a deal that would value it at $80/share or more, Bloomberg reports.
The consortium of private equity bidders includes Warburg Pincus and GTCR. Warburg Pincus has about $56B in private equity assets under management, including both real estate and tech, among numerous other sectors. GTCR is more of a specialist in financial services and tech.
A price of $80/share trumps an earlier offer this year for the company of about $66/share by Cannae Holdings and Senator Investment Group, two investment firms that already own a stake in CoreLogic, which rejected the bid.
In October, CoreLogic shares have traded between roughly $67/share and $69/share. When word of the interest by CoStar and the others broke on Wednesday, CoreLogic shares spiked to over $76/share by the end of the trading day.
Also on Wednesday, Irvine, California-based CoreLogic confirmed investor interest at that higher price, saying in a statement that the company is “engaging with third parties indicating preliminary interest based on public information in the potential acquisition of the Company.”
The statement didn't name any of the suitors, nor did it guarantee that any such deal would happen at all. CoStar did not respond to a request for comment.
If CoStar is successful in its effort to buy CoreLogic, a property data and analytics specialist, it would be the latest in a string of acquisitions in the CRE data space for the company. Among others since 2012, CoStar has acquired LoopNet, Apartments.com, ForRent.com, STR and RentPath.
CoreLogic's databases encompass more than 4.5 billion records, including residential property records, tax payment history and parcel maps that form the basis of the various products that it sells.
The company says that more than 1.2 million real estate professionals use its services, along with lenders, property management companies and government agencies.
