Bidding tussle for the real estate data provider adds extra heat
CoStar Group has added another US$450 million (US$6 per share) in its bid to purchase real estate data provider CoreLogic.
The commercial property data firm announced Monday that it had submitted a revised proposal to increase its US$6.9 billion all-stock offer for CoreLogic, adding US$450 million in cash. CoStar’s new proposal represents a US$1.5 billion (US$17 per share) improvement over Stone Point and Insight Offer’s competing bids.
“We propose a merger transaction whereby CoStar would acquire 100% of the equity interests of CoreLogic in a stock and cash transaction. CoreLogic shareholders will receive 0.1019 shares of newly issued CoStar common stock and US$6.00 in cash for each share of CoreLogic’s issued and outstanding common stock. This implies a headline value of US$90 per share based on CoStar’s latest closing share price and US$97 per share based on the latest 30-day volume-weighted average CoStar share price. Further, this offer represents over US$1.25 billion more in aggregate value or a US$17 per share improvement over the SPC Agreement,” CoStar wrote in its March 01 letter to CoreLogic’s board of directors.
Despite CoStar’s higher bid, the primary stock offer was still worth less on Monday than when it was announced on February 16 due to the drop in CoStar’s shares, Reuters reported. But on a per-share basis, the bid is US$10 higher than CoreLogic’s initial selling price.
Last week, CoreLogic requested more assurances from CoStar, asking if it can complete their merger should it attract antitrust scrutiny.
“We continue to believe that the proposed combination is pro-competitive, and as such, does not present any meaningful antitrust concerns,” CoStar said in its letter on Monday. “Accordingly, we will agree to an antitrust covenant that we will take all actions to obtain the required antitrust approvals up to a material adverse effect on the combined company.”
CoStar proposed setting the initial termination date at six months to ensure a successful closing and, if required, to resolve any remaining hurdles to antitrust clearance.
