According to a regulatory filing yesterday, Real’s bid to purchase REMAX for $880 million is moving forward—as far as the Department of Justice (DOJ) is concerned—with a waiting period created to allow antitrust review of big corporate mergers passing today.
In the statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Real said that the DOJ had granted “early termination” of the mandatory waiting period. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), this only happens when both the DOJ and FTC “have completed their review and determined they will not take any enforcement action during the waiting period.”
The deal must still be approved by shareholders, with a vote scheduled for Aug. 14.
Real CEO Tamir Poleg and REMAX CEO Erik Carlson both spoke to RISMedia in the weeks after the deal was announced, with both expressing confidence the deal would close.
Real and REMAX’s merger represents just one of a handful of significant recent consolidations in the real estate space going back around a year. So far, President Donald Trump’s administration has largely been less aggressive in these types of deals.
Most notably, Compass’s acquisition of Anywhere was also approved relatively quickly. Multiple media outlets reported that Compass hired a lawyer close to Trump and successfully lobbied to bypass leaders in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, who wanted to scrutinize the deal (and its impacts on competition) further.
RISMedia later confirmed that New York has launched its own state-level investigation into the merger.
The Real-REMAX merger is not on the same scale as Compass and Anywhere, but still represents a combination of companies with significant market power. REMAX claimed around 50,000 agents in the United States at the beginning of this year, with Real claiming over 35,000.
Real’s stock rose sharply after the SEC filing, around 4% in early trading Tuesday before moderating in the afternoon.
