CoStar Group Inc. has agreed to buy RentPath Inc. for $588 million, as the real-estate data giant pushes deeper into the fast-growing business of helping renters find apartments online, the Wall Street Journal reported. The all-cash deal was yesterday announced by the companies as RentPath said that it would seek chapter 11 protection. Atlanta-based RentPath has been struggling financially and recently hired financial advisers to help it restructure more than $650 million of debt. RentPath, which is owned by private-equity firms TPG Capital and Providence Equity Partners LLC, controls real-estate websites ApartmentGuide.com, Rentals.com and Rent.com. It had about 28,000 properties listed on its network in December. RentPath described CoStar as a “stalking horse bidder” in what will be a bankruptcy court-supervised sales process. “If other qualified bids are submitted, the company will conduct an auction,” RentPath said.
