IRES, REcolorado merger awaits shareholder approval

LOVELAND — Shareholders of the two multiple-listing services that serve Northern Colorado and the greater Denver metro area will vote on a merger of the two, creating a single MLS that would serve 26,000 real estate professionals.

Financial terms of the merger and information on who would lead the new organization have not been released.

Lauren Hansen, chief executive of Loveland-based Information Real Estate Services Inc., and Kirby Slunaker, president and CEO of REcolorado based in Denver, last week signed a binding merger agreement that has been approved by REcolorado’s board of directors and IRES’ board of managers. The potential merger was first announced in September when Hansen and Slunaker signed a nonbinding merger agreement.

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The next step needed is shareholder approval from the boards of the eight Realtor Associations that are the owners of the two organizations. Chris Osborn, with law firm Foster Pepper PLLC in Seattle, who is facilitating the merger process, said on Tuesday that a date has not yet been set for the shareholder vote, but he expects the merger would be completed before the end of the year.

“I’m optimistic the merger agreement will receive shareholder approval, giving us the green light to consolidate these two companies,” Osborn said. “With approval from REcolorado’s three shareholder boards, as well as the IRES shareholder boards, the merger could close before the end of the year.”

REcolorado’s shareholders are Denver Metro Association of Realtors, South Metro Denver Realtor Association and Aurora Association of Realtors.  

Shareholders of IRES are the Boulder Area Realtor Association, Fort Collins Board of Realtors, Greeley Area Realtor Association, Longmont Association of Realtors and Loveland Berthoud Association of Realtors.

The process of integrating the two organizations, including the products and services and all listing data, would begin shortly after shareholder approval.

Benefits of the merger would include comprehensive data, a broad set of technology tools and services, and consumer-facing websites.