Compass, Inc. on Jan. 9 announced the completion of its all-stock merger with Anywhere Real Estate Inc. valued at $1.6 billion. Compass characterized both companies as having a collective vision to become the best company in the world that empowers local real estate professionals with everything they need to succeed. Earlier in the week shareholders of both Compass and Anywhere had voted to go ahead with the merger.
As part of their national operations, both companies have had a substantial presence in Westchester County. In addition to Compass, the real estate companies under the Compass and Anywhere Real Estate umbrella include Sotheby’s, Better Homes & Garden, Century 21, Coldwell Banker and Corcoran. They have a big presence in Fairfield and Westchester counties and Hudson Valley. There are 20 Compass offices in Westchester County and Hudson Valley while the company has 12 offices in Connecticut, including seven in Fairfield County. As for Anywhere, there are 40 Century 21 in Connecticut, 13 in Fairfield County, 36 Coldwell Banker offices in Westchester County and 11 in Fairfield County, and 15 Sotheby’s offices in Westchester County and 16 in Fairfield County.
Before the merger Compass had 474 agents in numerous Westchester communities including Armonk, Chappaqua, Dobbs Ferry, Larchmont, Rye, Scarsdale, Yonkers and Yorktown Heights. Nationally, Anywhere at the end of 2024 reported having 33,465 agents who participated in 205,122 transactions worth $216.8 billion bringing the company $5.6 billion in revenue. In Fairfield County,
Robert Reffkin, chairman and CEO of Compass, will lead the combined companies to be known as Compass International Holdings.
“What makes this moment unique is not a transaction that combines two companies – it’s that the industry’s most respected brands and professionals are coming together on a single, modern technology platform that will help them save time, grow their business, and better serve their clients,” Reffkin said.
Compass was founded in 2012 and is based in New York City. It provides its company-owned brokerages and affiliates with cloud-based software for customer relationship management, marketing, client service, brokerage services, and other functionality, all custom-built for the real estate industry. Compass says that its agents utilize the platform to grow their business, save time, and manage their business more efficiently. The new company promises to preserve the identity of the various brands it has including @properties, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, CENTURY 21, Christie’s International Real Estate, Coldwell Banker, Compass, Corcoran, ERA, and Sotheby’s International Realty.
“We are pleased with the strong support from our and Anywhere’s stockholders in approving this transaction,” Reffkin said.
Approximately 99% of the votes cast at Compass’ special stockholder meeting were to approve the proposal to issue shares of Compass Class A common stock to Anywhere stockholders in connection with the merger. At a special meeting, holders of approximately 72.4% of the outstanding shares of Anywhere’s common stock voted to approve the proposal to adopt the merger agreement.
