M&A Moves: CoStar Group is set to acquire Atlanta-based RentPath out of bankruptcy

M&A Moves is a Technical.ly column where we highlight D.C.-area companies completing mergers and making acquisitions to scale their businesses. Have a submission? Email us at dc@technical.ly and tell us why it belongs in the roundup.

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The CoStar Group is set to acquire Atlanta’s RentPath.

Thomas Circle-based CoStar Group, a commercial real estate information and analytics provider and manager of Apartments.com, reports that it’s set to acquire Atlanta-based RentPath out of bankruptcy. The acquisition deal is valued at $588 million in cash.

RentPath is a digital marketplace connecting consumers with housing options. The company manages a portfolio of websites including Rent.com and Apartment Guide.

“RentPath has a 30-year track record of outstanding service to the multifamily industry, developing thousands of meaningful customer relationships,” said Andrew Florance, founder and CEO of CoStar Group, in a statement. “Following restructuring in bankruptcy, CoStar Group expects the combined companies to benefit from synergies and plans to invest in building RentPath’s online brands and traffic to provide improved quantity and quality of lead flow to advertising clients.”

Once the deal is final, RentPath will still operate independently, per a press release. The closing of the acquisition will be contingent on approval from the bankruptcy court.

Applied Insight acquires Digital Age Experts.

Tysons, Virginia-based Applied Insight, designer of solutions to help its federal government customers solve tech-oriented problems, has acquired Reston, Virginia-based Digital Age Experts (DAE) for an undisclosed amount.

Delighted to announce that @digitalageexp has joined Applied Insight. With our combined cloud management and emulation technologies, we’re leading the way in helping federal customers leverage the full power of the cloud. https://t.co/iK0gxwtNvX

— Applied Insight (@AppliedInsight_) February 12, 2020

Founded in 2011, DAE is a small business IT professional services company specializing in cloud management and design.

“DAE strengthens our position with a highly experienced team and proprietary cloud technologies,” said Applied Insight CEO John Hynes in a press release. “Its SHIFT emulation technology combined with AI’s Altitude cloud management platform uniquely positions us to solve all low-to-high side development, testing and integration challenges for government customers.”

The combined company now has 600 employees, 450 of whom work in the D.C. Metro area. DAE will continue to operate from Reston.

Vantage Data Centers expands to Europe through the acquisition of Etix Everywhere.

Wholesale data center services provider Vantage Data Centers has acquired Etix Everywhere. The company operates data centers across 42 acres in Ashburn, Virginia and provides data center solutions to hyperscale cloud and enterprise customers. Through this acquisition, Vantage expands into five European markets, bringing it to 11 markets globally. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Founded in 2012, Etix is a data center provider in Europe and the Middle East. Former Etix CEO Antoine Boniface has joined the Vantage leadership team as the Europe president. Vantage’s VP of international business development, Josh Buis, has been promoted to the role of SVP of sales and business development for the company’s Europe operations.

“The acquisition of Etix accelerates our expansion to Frankfurt, Europe’s highest growth hyperscale market,” Sureel Choksi, president and CEO of Vantage, said in a statement. “We are very excited to welcome Antoine and his team to lead our European business.”

Vantage reports that it will invest $2 billion into its Europe expansion, which includes $800 million in new equity capital from its existing investors.