Stone Point Capital and Insight Partners are jointly set to acquire real estate data and technology firm CoreLogic in a deal that values the stake at $80 per share, or approximately $6 billion. The deal ends a months-long saga to find new ownership for the company after two shareholders attempted a takeover in the summer of 2020.
Frank Martell | Photo credit: CoreLogic
CoStar Group, which has made a significant move into the residential real estate space, had also reportedly been attempting to acquire CoreLogic and was one of the final bidders, along with Warbug Pincus.
“Stone Point and Insight Partners are highly respected investors who recognize the value and potential of CoreLogic’s digital content, solutions and market-leading platforms that power the housing economy,” Frank Martell, the president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement.
“We look forward to working closely with Stone Point and Insight to build on our record financial and operating performance and accelerate our digital transformation and growth.”
CoreLogic — which offers a variety of multiple listing services and real estate data products, including the popular digital MLS platform Matrix — joins real estate technology vendor Lone Wolf and the Auction.com platform as part of Stone Point Capital’s real estate investment portfolio. Stone Point had acquired a controlling stake in Lone Wolf in October 2020.
Insight Partners’ portfolio includes an investment in the technology-focused real estate brokerage Real, among other proptech investments.
“At Insight Partners we focus on partnering with clear technology leaders that define and transform their markets through world-class software and data,” Deven Parekh, managing director at Insight Partners, said in a statement. “What we found in CoreLogic is a market leader with a long history of serving customers with powerful data technology and a future vision to innovate across the real estate ecosystem.”
The transaction is being financed through a combination of equity for the two firms, as well as debt provided by JP Morgan Securities. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to shareholder approval.
CoreLogic opened trading Thursday with its stock priced at $80.05 per share.
The path to CoreLogic’s eventual acquisition was kicked-off when the company fended-off an acquisition attempt over the summer by Senator Investment Group LP and Cannae Holdings Inc., two significant existing shareholders, which attempted to buy the company at a value of $65 per share.
At the time the company signified it had interest from other companies at a higher value and a report last week from Bloomberg pegged CoStar Group and Warburg Pincus as the final bidders, although it was clear that no decision had been made at the time.
In a statement, CoreLogic Chairman Paul Folino said the deal with Stone Point Capital and Insight Partners is the “culmination of our Board’s extensive review of strategic alternatives, which included engaging with numerous potential buyers.”
“This is a significant milestone for CoreLogic and a very positive outcome for our shareholders who will receive exceptional value for their shares in cash with a high degree of regulatory certainty and a closing expected in the near term,” Folino said.
UPDATE: Story updated to correct previously incorrect reporting that the acquisition represented a 51 percent stake. Rather, the deal is a premium of 51 percent to CoreLogic’s unaffected share price on June 25, 2020.
