Cox Automotive to buy Dealertrack in $4 billion deal

Cox Automotive Inc, the owner of Autotrader platform and Kelley Blue Book car valuation service, said it would buy Dealertrack Technologies Inc (TRAK.O) in a deal valued at $4 billion.The $63.25 per share offer represents a 59 percent premium to Dealertrack's Friday closing price of $39.85.
Shares of Dealertrack, which makes software for the automotive retail industry, were trading at $62.20 before the bell on Monday.

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The deal has an equity value of $3.44 billion, according to Thomson Reuters calculations. The companies said they expect the deal to close in the third quarter of 2015.
Privately held Cox, the automotive arm of media company Cox Enterprises, said it would fund the acquisition through a new $1.85 billion loan arranged by Citigroup Global Markets, a $750 million equity investment from BDT Capital Partners and existing credit facility.
BDT & Co and Citigroup Global Markets are financial advisers to Cox Automotive while Evercore was advising Lake Success, New York-based Dealertrack.
(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan and Abhirup Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)