Houlihan Lokey Advises GeoPhy

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that GeoPhy, a leading commercial real estate technology provider, has been acquired by Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (W&D) for a consideration of $85 million in cash paid at closing with an additional $205 million of cash earn-out potential. The transaction closed on February 28, 2022.

GeoPhy, with international headquarters in the Netherlands and its U.S. headquarters in New York City, provides commercial real estate professionals with instant access to unique data and hyperlocal insights so they can find, evaluate, and close more deals in less time with greater confidence. GeoPhy is making the world of commercial real estate more transparent, efficient, and faster.

W&D (NYSE:WD) is the largest provider of capital to the multifamily industry in the United States and the fourth largest lender on all commercial real estate, including industrial, office, retail, and hospitality. W&D enables real estate owners and operators to bring their visions of communities—where Americans live, work, shop, and play—to life. The power of W&D’s people, premier brand, and industry-leading technology enables them to meet any client need—including financing, research, property sales, valuation, and advisory services. With over 1,000 employees across every major U.S. market, W&D has consistently been named a Fortune Great Place to Work® and is committed to making the commercial real estate industry more inclusive and diverse while creating meaningful social, environmental, and economic change in our communities.

GeoPhy’s data analytics and development capabilities will dramatically accelerate the growth of W&D’s lending, brokerage, and emerging businesses, including Apprise, its tech-enabled appraisal business, and WDExpress, its small balance lending platform. GeoPhy CEO and co-founder Teun van den Dries will continue to lead the GeoPhy team and assume leadership of the Apprise and WDExpress businesses while supporting continued innovation throughout W&D.

W&D Chairman and CEO Willy Walker stated, “This acquisition is a game-changing investment for W&D, as it dramatically accelerates the growth of our technology capabilities in two areas of the market where we have the ability to disrupt the commercial real estate services industry. As our current JV partner in Apprise, we are well acquainted with the GeoPhy team and their capabilities. Actionable technology that makes our bankers and brokers more insightful and capable is what has differentiated W&D, and the acquisition of GeoPhy immediately enhances our capabilities.

“GeoPhy is the largest technology investment we have made and accelerates the achievement of our Drive to ’25 strategy to use technology to grow our existing scaled lending and brokerage businesses as well as transform the real estate services landscape by developing technologically enabled businesses that will be faster, better, and cheaper than the competition. We are thrilled to bring Teun, his visionary leadership, and fantastic team to W&D.”

Mr. van den Dries commented, “GeoPhy has gained a reputation for its unrivaled capabilities in data science and predictive models, which provide our customers in the commercial real estate space with unmatched efficiencies and insights. We’re thrilled to bring our industry experience and insights to W&D to propel the growth of their lending, brokerage, and emerging businesses. As a combined company, we have the scale, resources, and expertise to truly differentiate W&D’s services in the marketplace. We know W&D, we know the value of their brand and platform, and we expect this acquisition to be a fantastic success.”

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to GeoPhy. This deal highlights Houlihan Lokey’s long-standing reputation as a leading advisor to data and analytics providers within the commercial real estate sector.