The parent company of San Diego, Calif.-based real estate information service DataQuick has sold the service to private investment firm TPG, the company announced Friday.
TPG Capital, the global buyout arm of TPG (formerly known as Texas Pacific Group) has acquired the property information business of British Columbia-based MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd. (MDA).
The acquisition includes subsidiary MDA Lending Solutions (of which DataQuick and mortgage lending technology company Mindbox are divisions) and building-cost data provider Marshall & Swift. DataQuick has been a subsidiary of MDA since April 2000.
DataQuick provides research, marketing, analytics and valuation products based on property data, and its data partners include the California Association of Realtors, San Diego Association of Realtors and Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, among others.
"TPG Capital’s acquisition of MDA DataQuick reaffirms the strength of our business model and will help us to grow our leadership position as an analytics and data provider in the real estate and lending markets," said John Walsh, president of MDA DataQuick, in a statement.
MDA reported that it expects the transaction to close early next year. The company expects to net $850 million in Canadian dollars (about $848 million in U.S. dollars at the latest exchange rate) from the sale after taxes.
"Our property information business was built on the strengths of our information solutions competencies" said MDA’s CEO Dan Friedmann, in a statement.
"We determined that this business should operate under separate ownership going forward if we could crystallize good value. This transaction provides an excellent return on the investments we have made in the property information business over the past decade."
Friedmann also said the company would focus on growing its information systems and geospatial services businesses. These include advanced robotics for space missions, defense information systems, and airborne surveillance systems.
The acquisition is the latest in a series of industry moves concerning the aggregation, sharing and distribution of real estate data. Last week, Chicago-area multiple listing service Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED) signed licensing agreements with client management and direct marketing service Listingbook and with property report company Cloud CMA.
In August, Listingbook announced that it was taking over property search and valuation website Cyberhomes.com from LPS Real Estate Group Inc.
In a separate deal, Realtor.com operator Move Inc. acquired listings syndicator ListHub in September. Canada-based Point2 Technology Inc., which was acquired by Yardi Systems the same month — and Yardi in April announced the acquisition of real estate data company PropertyShark.
