Ten-X LLC in Irvine will be bought by private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in Boston for more than $1 billion, news reports said.
Ten-X was formerly Auction.com. It runs an online real estate transaction marketplace that brokers commercial and residential real estate sales, including hotels and distressed homes.
It’s sold more than 300,000 properties for more than $50 billion since its founding in 2007 by Jeffrey Frieden, Robert Friedman and Monte Koch.
A company press release described the transaction on undisclosed terms as “a majority recapitalization” of the firm; senior management and prior investors will keep minority stakes in Ten-X.
In 2008, Auction.com sold what was then a 50% stake to Greenwich, Conn.-based Stone Point Capital LLC via the private equity firm’s $2.25 billion Trident IV fund.
Google Capital, now called CapitalG, invested $50 million in March 2014 at a $1.2 billion valuation—a 4% position at the time.
For a May 2015 Business Journal article, the firm said employees had acquired about 15% of Ten-X in 2011. Barry Sternlicht’s Greenwich, Conn.-based Starwood Capital Group held a stake it took in 2013, and the co-founders were also still owners. The current mix of investors couldn’t be determined.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
—Paul Hughes
