REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
HappyCo | November 03, 2022
HappyCo, the leading residential operations platform for real-time rental property data collection and utilization, is acquiring Toronto-based Yuhu, a comprehensive rental lifecycle management platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Yuhu's operations platform is utilized by top property owners and operators such as Boardwalk, CAPREIT, and BentallGreenOak and services over 500,000 prospects and residents across Canada and Europe.
"We've known the Yuhu team for quite some time and both companies share a similar culture and common vision to improve the multifamily industry, The merger of our firms broadens our collective impact on the overall resident lifecycle, and will allow us to capture more actionable data, create opportunities to enhance resident experiences, and streamline property operations to ease the daily workload of onsite teams."
-HappyCo CEO, Jindou Lee
Yuhu's cloud-based software for property owners and managers will be integrated into HappyCo's 'Happy Property Suites' and 'Happy Force' products to offer a complete operations solution for customers and residents. The Yuhu acquisition provides HappyCo with a resident-facing solution that significantly enhances its existing products and offers HappyCo customers a cohesive product that delivers an end-to-end view of the property lifecycle.
As part of the acquisition, Yuhu's current employees will join the HappyCo team, including Hugh Kolias, CEO of Yuhu, who will join as EVP. Existing Yuhu customers will benefit from an expanded solutions platform, accelerated product investment, and broader support while enjoying continuity of service.
We are thrilled to join forces with Jindou and the HappyCo team to achieve our shared vision to enhance the quality of life for multifamily residents and operators, By bringing our teams and products together, we're able to provide our mutual client-partners with an even better all-around experience,said Kolias.
Founded in 2011, HappyCo is the leading source of condition assessments and workflow tools for the multifamily market. Designed to automate, simplify, and protect data collected during residential rental property inspections, the platform has in-unit data on more than 3.5 million multifamily and single-family rental homes – notably one out of every eight professionally managed units in the U.S. The company provides vital underwriting information to lenders, investors, and asset managers, and empowers property managers with real-time operational tools and reporting. In 2021, HappyCo data were relied upon in about 26 percent of all U.S. sales transactions of multifamily units. HappyCo also serves property managers, offering a complete suite of apps to simplify processes, drive better performance and generate comprehensive views of assets within a portfolio.
About HappyCo
HappyCo is a real estate software company that develops mobile and cloud solutions to enable real-time operations data for property managers, asset managers, lenders, and investors. Its software suite includes market-leading condition assessment and workflow tools with in-unit data on over 3.5 million rental homes. Founded in 2011 in Adelaide, Australia, the company is privately held with a remote workforce throughout the US, Canada, and Australia.
About Yu hu
Yuhu Inc. is a cloud-based multifamily operations platform that manages the entire rental lifecycle from lead to renewal. Yuhu's product suite provides onsite teams with a single, comprehensive solution and access to consolidated data insights. Founded in 2015, Yuhu supports over half a million residents, onsite staff, and prospects for its client-partners including Avenue Living, BentallGreenOak, Boardwalk, CAPREIT, Concert, Hollyburn, Campus Living Centers, Westdale, and other leaders in the Canadian multifamily industry.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY,REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Kimco Realty | December 19, 2022
Kimco Realty® (NYSE: KIM) (the “Company”) today announced that it intends to complete a holding company reorganization (the “Reorganization”), which would restructure the Company as an Umbrella Partnership Real Estate Investment Trust, or UPREIT. As part of the Reorganization, a new holding company (“New Kimco”) will become the publicly traded parent company by way of an intercompany merger (the “Merger”), assuming the existing name of “Kimco Realty Corporation,” while the current corporation (“Old Kimco”) will convert to a limited liability company called “Kimco Realty OP LLC” (“Kimco OP”) controlled by the publicly traded parent company (the “Conversion”).
“We are very excited to announce our reorganization into an UPREIT, which we believe will enhance our ability to compete in the acquisition of real estate assets by enabling us to offer tax-deferred opportunity to sellers, We believe this reorganization will have no material impact on our existing shareholders, debt security holders, lenders or other constituencies, and will represent an enhanced platform for Kimco’s continued growth.”
-Conor Flynn, Kimco’s Chief Executive Officer
The Reorganization is intended to align the Company’s corporate structure with other publicly traded U.S. real estate investment trusts and provide a platform for the Company to more efficiently acquire properties in a tax-deferred manner. The UPREIT structure will allow owners of appreciated property to contribute such property to an LLC structured as an “operating partnership” in exchange for membership interests therein. Subject to applicable tax requirements, this type of contribution may be done on a tax-deferred basis for the contributors. Following the Conversion, Kimco OP will function as the operating partnership in the UPREIT structure. Membership interests in Kimco OP will generally entitle their holders to receive the same distributions as holders of New Kimco common stock, and the holders of such interests will generally be entitled to exchange the membership interests for cash or common stock, at New Kimco’s option.
The Reorganization is not anticipated to have any material impact on the Company’s financial position and is not expected to result in any material changes to the Company’s combined financial statements, outstanding debt securities, material debt facilities, or business operations. All shares of common and preferred stock of Kimco will automatically be converted into identical shares of the new parent holding company as part of the Reorganization, and the Reorganization will not impact the payment of the dividends declared by the Company’s board of directors and payable to stockholders of record in accordance with previously announced dividend payment dates in respect of the Company’s common shares and the Class L preferred stock and Class M preferred stock.
The Reorganization does not require shareholder approval under Maryland law and the Merger is expected to qualify as a tax-free reorganization under Section 368(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, meaning that Kimco’s shareholders are not expected to recognize a gain or loss for federal income tax purposes as a result of the Merger.
The Merger is expected to be effective as of January 1, 2023, and the Conversion is expected to be effective promptly thereafter. When the Reorganization is complete, the holding company will be named “Kimco Realty Corporation,” just as Kimco is today, and its shares of common stock, Class L depositary shares and Class M depositary shares are expected to continue to trade on the NYSE under the symbols “KIM,” “KIMprL” and “KIMprM”, respectively.
About Kimco Realty®
Kimco Realty® (NYSE:KIM) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) headquartered in Jericho, N.Y. that is North America’s largest publicly traded owner and operator of open-air, grocery-anchored shopping centers, including mixed-use assets. The company’s portfolio is primarily concentrated in the first-ring suburbs of the top major metropolitan markets, including those in high-barrier-to-entry coastal markets and rapidly expanding Sun Belt cities, with a tenant mix focused on essential, necessity-based goods and services that drive multiple shopping trips per week. Kimco Realty is also committed to leadership in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and is a recognized industry leader in these areas. Publicly traded on the NYSE since 1991, and included in the S&P 500 Index, the company has specialized in shopping center ownership, management, acquisitions, and value enhancing redevelopment activities for more than 60 years. As of September 30, 2022, the company owned interests in 526 U.S. shopping centers and mixed-use assets comprising 91 million square feet of gross leasable space.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY,REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Oxylabs | November 25, 2022
Oxylabs, the leading premium proxy and public web data acquisition solution provider, has launched its Real Estate Scraper API, enabling automated data acquisition from a large variety of real estate websites.
The real estate industry has begun using web scraping significantly, enabling companies to extract valuable non-traditional data. For instance, most real estate ads exist online and web scraping is the primary technology allowing the collection of such intelligence, which, once analyzed, allows betting on data-backed decisions.
In addition, such features as proximity and dispersion of points of interest have been shown to have strong predictive power for property value. While these data points are extremely valuable, getting a constant and reliable stream is challenging, which has created a rising interest in real estate external data providers.
"Within the realm of data and information, scraping provides virtually limitless opportunities to businesses and individuals alike. Our internal research revealed that real estate web scraping has been growing significantly, with our sales teams noticing a sharp rise in client inquiries. Businesses use automated data acquisition to drive revenue and, at the same time, improve the livelihood of consumers through use cases such as creating data aggregators."
- Nedas Višniauskas, Commercial Product Owner at Oxylabs
Oxylabs stands at the forefront of automated public web data gathering, holding numerous patents for technologies associated with the field. Expansion into real estate data scraping is another step toward reaffirming the company's commitment to innovation in the industry.
While Oxylabs has always provided infrastructure for scraping real estate data, it previously necessitated the usage of in-house scrapers. With the newest release, Oxylabs will make real estate data scraping accessible and cost effective to businesses of all sizes.
About Oxylabs
Established in 2015, Oxylabs is a premium proxy and public web data acquisition solution provider, enabling companies of all sizes to utilize the power of big data. Constant innovation, a large patent portfolio, and a focus on ethics have allowed Oxylabs to become a global leader in the data acquisition industry and forge close ties with dozens of Fortune Global 500 companies. In 2022, Oxylabs was named the fastest-growing public data gathering solutions company in Europe in the Financial Times' FT 1000 list.
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