RentPath drops acquisition deal with CoStar after FTC antitrust lawsuit
RentPath, owner of property listing sites including Rent.com and Apartment Guide, said today it has cancelled its agreement to be acquired by CoStar Group after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the sale.
CoStar, a commercial real estate data and analytics provider that also operates listing sites like Apartments.com and ApartmentFinder.com, agreed in February to buy RentPath for $588 million. The all-cash deal came after RentPath said it would file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. RentPath had already hired financial advisors to restructure more than $650 million in debt, reported the Wall Street Journal.
But earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission authorized an antitrust lawsuit in federal court to block the acquisition. Daniel Francis, deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement that “the acquisition will eliminate price and quality competition that benefits both renters and property managers,” because CoStar and RentPath’s rivalry kept advertising rates on their platform, which include some of the most popular listing sites, low.
In its announcement today, RentPath said its chapter 11 plan remains backed by lenders, including alternative asset management firms with “strong track records of successfully investing in …read more
Source: Tech Crunch
