Vacasa Is Now a Casago Company After Acquisition Closes

Can Casago turn around Vacasa with a franchise business model? Let the games begin.

Vacasa's 1,242 days as a public company are over after Casago's $47.4 million acquisition of the property management company became official Wednesday.

Vacasa now bills itself as "A Casago Company" on its website. Vacasa's shares stopped trading on Nasdaq, and it will be delisted. Vacasa went public in a SPAC merger on December 7, 2021, and like many other SPACs, saw its valuation plummet.

Vacasa CEO Rob Greyber, who took the job on September 6, 2022, as well as interim Chief Financial Officer William Atkins, have resigned, as did the entire Vacasa board, Casago revealed in a financial filing Thursday.

Although the size of the deal to buy the struggling property management company was underwhelming, there was a pitched bidding war over it, and shareholder lawsuits will likely follow.

Vacasa shareholders approved Casago's bid of $5.30 per share with a 72% approval. Shareholders did not get the opportunity to vote on a higher bid, which the board had rejected.

Three private equity shareholders rolled their holdings into Casago: Silver Lake, Riverwood, and Level Equity. They had backed the Casago's bid over a higher one of $5.83 per share from hedge fund Davidson Kempner. Those three shareholders now own 26% of Casago.

The new Casago board includes CEO Steve Schwab, President Joseph Riley, Joel Schubert of Miramar Holdings Real Estate, Jeff Parks of Riverwood, Joerg Adams of Silver Lake, and Rich Ford of Roofstock, a strategic investor in the acquisition.