Car-Seller Copart Among Suitors for Car Insurance Software Firm CCC

Copart Inc. is in talks to acquire CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings Inc., the car-insurance software provider that has been weighing selling itself, according to people familiar with the matter.

Dallas-based Copart, which specializes in used and salvaged car sales and has a market value of roughly $29 billion, has been vying with several private equity firms including GTCR and Veritas Capital about acquiring CCC, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty that any of the suitors will reach an agreement, the people said, adding that it’s also possible another buyer could emerge. Representatives for Copart, CCC and Veritas didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for GTCR declined to comment.

CCC has been working with a financial adviser in recent weeks to explore options after Elliott Investment Management built a large stake in the Chicago-based firm. Elliott, which is best known as an activist investor that takes stakes in some of the world’s largest companies, has been engaging via its private equity arm with CCC, Bloomberg News reported in July.

Shares in CCC, which have lost 27% of their value over the past year, jumped as much as 14% Tuesday in New York trading before closing up 6.7% to $7.14, giving the company a market value of about $4.2 billion. CCC previously weighed a sale in 2023, when its stock was valued at around $8 billion. Copart’s shares, which have fallen 33% in the past year, fell 0.6% to $31.51

Any deal involving CCC would mark a turning point for the software industry at a time when many investors have been pulling back from making fresh bets amid fears of displacement from artificial intelligence tools.

Acquisitions of software companies globally since Jan. 1 total $141 billion, compared with $167 billion at this point last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This year’s total doesn’t include for the $250 billion merger of Elon Musk’s xAI with SpaceX, which if added would put the 2026 tally to date well ahead of 2021’s record-setting volume for the entire year, the data show.