CoStar Group To Buy Apartments.com For $585 Mln Cash

(RTTNews) - CoStar Group (CSGP), a provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and marketplaces, has agreed to acquire Apartments.com, an unit of Classified Ventures, LLC, for $585 million cash.

Separately, Gannett Co., Inc (GCI), a company that owns 26.9 percent stake in Classified Ventures, said its portion of the purchase price of the sale is anticipated to be around $155 million, that is to be distributed at closing. Gannet expects to use the proceeds to reduce debt and for other purposes.

Apartments.com is an online resource for individuals who are seeking apartments. The business also operates ApartmentHomeLiving.com and RentalHomesPlus.com. These three sites had 114 million visits and an average of 7 million unique monthly visitors in 2013. Apartments.com had net income of $24.2 million on revenues of about $86 million in 2013.

The transaction may close in the second quarter of 2014.