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With the number of significant platform transactions reviewed by agencies on the rise, economists and economic analysis are taking a greater role in the assessment of these mergers.
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RentPath Gets Nod On New Ch. 11 Plan With $600M Sale
Law360 (April 1, 2021, 2:35 PM EDT) Apartment listing company RentPath Holdings received bankruptcy court approval Thursday for a new Chapter 11 plan underpinned by a $608 million sale to real estate lister Redfin Corp. about four months after federal regulators nixed an earlier sale plan.
During a virtual hearing, debtor attorney Andriana Georgallas of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP said RentPath was happy to be before the court with a consensual Chapter 11 plan that provided better recoveries for creditors than the earlier confirmed plan based on a $588 million sale to competitor CoStar Group.
Real-estate brokerage Redfin Corp. has agreed to buy apartment search site operator RentPath Holdings Inc. out of bankruptcy for $608 million, in a deal that would combine operators of leading U.S. property listing websites for purchasing and renting a home.
CoStar Group is heading to court over a nearly $60 million break-up fee levied a week after the company’s attempted acquisition of Rent Path was spiked following an intervention by the Federal Trade Commission.
RentPath, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late February 2020 prior to the attempted $587.5 million acquisition by CoStar, petitioned a bankruptcy court in Delaware to expedite payment of the break-up fee, which is currently being held in escrow. The letter demanded the payment within two days from the Dec. 29 filing.
“As you are aware, time is of the essence,” Marlon Starr, the senior vice president and general counsel of RentPath Holdings, wrote in a letter to CoStar Group. “The Company cannot afford any delay with respect to the release of the escrow funds.”