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, the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The all-cash deal announced on Friday comes months after an earlier acquisition agreement between RentPath and real-estate data provider CoStar Group Inc. was blocked by federal antitrust regulators. Redfin’s proposed acquisition of RentPath is subject to antitrust approval by the Federal Trade Commission and a bankruptcy judge. The acquisition of Atlanta-based RentPath would give Seattle-based Redfin listings for more than 20,000 apartment buildings, the companies said. RentPath, which filed chapter 11 last February, owns property sites ApartmentGuide.com, Rent.com and Rentals.com, which attract on average about 16 million monthly visitors, the company said. Redfin Chief Executive Glenn Kelman said the proposed tie-up would increase traffic for RentPath’s sites because about 20% of Redfin’s monthly visitors are also looking for homes to rent. The proposed sale also provides a way for RentPath to exit chapter 11 following the collapse of its proposed tie-up with CoStar. RentPath pulled out of the deal after spending months working with CoStar to try to get the FTC to approve the acquisition.
