CoStar Appoints GM for France—But No Acquistions Yet—While Disgruntled Investor Speaks Out Again

CoStar Group has appointed industry veteran and journalist Sandra Roumi as its new General Manager for France.

Roumi—who has served as editor-in-chief at Business Immo, France's number one real estate-focused press group— will oversee expansion plans for the CoStar-owned commercial real estate portal LoopNet, which already operates In North America and the UK.

Andy Florance, founder and CEO at CoStar Group, said:

"I am thrilled to continue CoStar Group’s expansion in France, part of our continuing successful effort to introduce industry-leading data, analytics, insights and online marketplaces into European markets."

The Group already owns another commercial portal in France, Bureaux Locaux, but CoStar won't be competing against residential leaders  SeLoger, Logic-Immo and Bien'ici quite yet.

As commercial-only property portals, both Bureaux Locaux and LoopNet only offer the CoStar Group penetration into one segment of the French market for now. It remains to be seen whether CoStar will look to enter the residential space via these two businesses or look to acquire residential portal operators further down the line.

With a UK acquisition already in the works and a move in France now completed, the question is what happens next in CoStar's trans-Atlantic expansion? One to keep an eye on.

Meanwhile, disgruntled investor Brett Stone has taken to social media for the fourth time this year to advise OTM on what it should do next. A social media post outlined his six-point plan for solving key issues surrounding CoStar's entry into the UK market, including a three-month period for OTM to accept matching buyout offers from any other interested parties in favour of CoStar's terms.

While some of his points hold water (is it really in the UK market's best interests for mega-wealthy American money to enter the space?), OTM itself has distanced itself from Stone's statements more than once—it is likely to do the same here, too.

Stone's plea for OTM to reconsider CoStar's $100M takeover bid seems a long shot, but props to him for fighting for a cause he believes in. With a voting date set for 4th December, Stone is running out of time to win hearts and minds.