CoStar Group said Wednesday it has acquired France’s premier commercial real estate news service, Business Immo.
Business Immo was founded in 2004 and has grown rapidly as an online property news source with national coverage of the French commercial real estate market.
Today, Business Immo is widely recognized as a leading digital commercial real estate news provider in the country, attracting over 300,000 unique visitors each month, including brokers, investors, developers and lenders. Business Immo is known for its online news and print magazines and has extended its product portfolio to include training, education and industry conferences. The publication has over 2,000 subscribing companies and 100,000 followers on social media.
The acquisition of Business Immo is an important addition to CoStar Group’s growing global news team, which offers daily coverage across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and through Hotel News Now, CoStar's international hospitality industry news service.
With over 235,000 subscribers and 19,000 articles published in 2021, CoStar News is one of the largest national and international real estate news networks in the world. CoStar journalists recently received eight awards, including three gold medals, from the National Association of Real Estate Editors, the largest real estate journalism organization in the United States.
"The acquisition of Business Immo adds yet another high-quality asset to our expanding international presence," Andrew C. Florance, founder and chief executive of CoStar Group, said in a statement. "We are actively building out our news, information and marketplaces in Europe and France is one of the most important real estate markets in the world with an estimated €40 billion in annual investment transaction value."
Florance added that "there is a close intersection of commercial real estate news and information and this connection is very important for CoStar Group, as the value of our news brings people to the platform. Business Immo delivers outstanding independent news services and has an excellent reputation among brokers, owners, lenders and other real estate market participants. We are looking forward to welcoming the Business Immo team to CoStar Group, including its highly-respected leadership team who will continue to run the business."
"By joining CoStar Group, Business Immo commences a new stage in its development," said Sandra Roumi, deputy president of Business Immo. "Our strategy based on news, events and commercial real estate training is a perfect fit with CoStar Group, and together we will pursue growth in our activities with a focus on best-in-class information technology."