By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com — Walker & Dunlop Inc (NYSE:WD), the commercial real estate financial services provider, will acquire commercial real estate technology business GeoPhy.
The deal will see Walker & Dunlop pay $85 million in cash with an additional $205 million of cash earn-out potential. The deal is expected to close during the first quarter.
Walker & Dunlop said GeoPhy's data analytics and development capabilities will accelerate the growth of its lending, brokerage, and emerging businesses, including Apprise, its tech-enabled appraisal business and its small balance lending platform.
Teun van den Dries, GeoPhy's CEO and co-founder, will continue to lead the GeoPhy team and take control of the Apprise and small balance lending businesses.
Walker & Dunlop Chairman and CEO Willy Walker said: "This acquisition is a game-changing investment for Walker & Dunlop, as it dramatically accelerates the growth of our technology capabilities in two areas of the market where we have the ability to disrupt the commercial real estate services industry.
"As our current JV partner in Apprise, we are well acquainted with the GeoPhy team and their capabilities."
Walker & Dunlop shares are currently up more than 1.3%, from Friday's $139.18 close. On Thursday, Walker & Dunlop reported its fourth-quarter results, beating analyst expectations on earnings per shares and revenue.