CoStar to Buy Hospitality Sector Researcher STR

In the US, commercial real estate information provider CoStar Group is to spend $450m in cash to acquire STR, which provides benchmarking and analytics for the hospitality industry.

Founded in 1985, STR provides analytics, performance benchmarking and market insights to the global hospitality industry. The firm aggregates data from more than 65,000 hotels worldwide, representing nearly nine million guest rooms in over 180 countries, and its flagship product - the STARreport - provides hotel brands, owners and management companies with performance benchmark information. The company is headquartered in Hendersonville, Tennessee and has 370 employees in fifteen countries.

CoStar says the combination of the two companies' offerings will enable it to create tools for investors, lenders and service providers for use in developing, financing, valuing and selling hotel properties. Amanda Hite (pictured), STR's President and CEO, comments: 'CoStar brings leading technologies, analytics and sales capabilities that we believe will enable STR to accelerate growth and increase the value and insights we provide to our hospitality clients. This combination also represents an outstanding career opportunity for all of our employees around the world'.

Web sites: www.costargroup.com and www.str.com .