Compass Denies Talks of Takeover by Vista Equity Associates

Compass Denies Talks of Takeover by Vista Equity Associates


From remaining: Vista Fairness Partners’ Robert F. Smith and Compass’ Robert Reffkin (Getty)

Just after a report Wednesday that Compass was currently being eyed for a takeover by a personal fairness agency, the brokerage denied possessing been approached about that possibility.

“Compass has not been contacted by any personal equity companies expressing interest in getting the organization personal,” a spokesperson for the firm informed The Serious Deal. “There have been no talks with personal fairness corporations on this make a difference.”

Robert Reffkin, Compass co-founder and CEO, would have to approve any sale, specified that he holds shares that give him about fifty percent the company’s voting electrical power.

Insider documented that Vista Fairness Associates, launched by billionaire Robert F. Smith, was exploring having Compass non-public, citing 3 anonymous resources. The publication noted that a different personal fairness organization could also be concerned in the transaction, as well as a proptech startup that could raise Compass’ digital chops.

But Compass took the abnormal step of denying the report — community businesses do not commonly comment on takeover rumors — telling the internet site that “no non-public fairness firm has contacted Compass expressing any interest in having the enterprise personal.”

Reps for Insider could not quickly be attained for comment.

Inside Compass’ wartime playbook, from TRD’s Oct challenge:

Compass inventory shot up a lot more than 10 % in after-hrs investing following the publication of the report. The brokerage has experienced weighty losses in excess of the past 18 months, totaling almost $800 million, and its stock shut Wednesday down 73 percent this calendar year.

It went general public in April 2021 with a virtually $7 billion industry cap, which is $1.1 billion now. It has just lately moved to aggressively slash expenditures, participating in layoffs across its tech, item, administrative and marketing and advertising groups, scaling back Compass Concierge, its property-enhancement system for sellers, and ending fairness grants for new agents. It aims to reduce charges by over $300 million this year.

In August, Vista declared it had struck an $8.4 billion offer to acquire tax software program business Avalara private. That adopted a transfer in January to consider cloud-computing Citrix private in a $16.5 billion deal.



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