Rocket Companies, a Detroit-based homeownership platform, has finalized its acquisition of Redfin. This merger brings together the most-visited real estate brokerage website with America's largest mortgage lender.
Varun Krishna, CEO of Rocket Companies, expressed his enthusiasm for the acquisition: “I’ve used Redfin every day for the last 20 years. It helped me find and fall in love with my first home, completely changing how I thought about real estate. The Redfin team is best-in-class in building a product experience focused on simplicity. It was a perfect fit for Rocket’s vision of what the homeownership experience should be.”
The companies have introduced Rocket Preferred Pricing, offering clients who finance their homes through Rocket Mortgage and buy or purchase homes listed by Redfin agents a one percentage point reduction in their interest rate for the first year or up to $6,000 in lender credit at closing.
This pricing option is available to qualified clients using conventional, FHA, or VA loans. Both companies plan to introduce more products and services for various stakeholders in the coming months.
Redfin has also updated its brand identity to "Redfin Powered by Rocket" as part of this integration effort.
Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, stated: “The gulf between the American Dream of homeownership and reality has never been wider. The reason Rocket and Redfin came together was to bridge that gap so that people who spend their days dreaming on Redfin.com can easily use Rocket financing to own their dream.”
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisor and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP as legal counsel to Rocket Companies. Goldman Sachs & Co LLC acted as financial advisor and Fenwick & West LLP provided legal counsel to Redfin.
In addition to this acquisition news, Rocket Companies completed a simplification of its organizational structure by collapsing its "Up-C" structure on June 30th. This change reduced classes of common stock from four to two while enhancing equity liquidity and improving corporate clarity.
Founded in 1985, Rocket Companies includes businesses such as Rocket Mortgage and now integrates with Redfin under its umbrella.