The First American Corporation said today that it has merged its First American Real Estate Solutions division with Sacramento, Calif.-based CoreLogic Systems, Inc., a leading provider of mortgage risk assessment and fraud prevention solutions. In 2006, RES and CoreLogic generated approximately $252 million and $74 million in revenues, respectively. The new, combined company is majority owned by The First American Corporation, and represents the largest transaction in a series of analytic company acquisitions and minority investments completed by the RES division in recent years. “This merger is a major milestone in our strategy to revolutionize the mortgage risk management process,” said Parker S. Kennedy, chairman and chief executive officer of The First American Corporation. “This transaction unlocks value by creating a single, unified company with the unique data and predicative analytics resources that lenders, investors and consumers need throughout the mortgage lending and securitization process.”
George Livermore, currently president of First American’s Property Information and Services segment, has been appointed president of the new company. Steve Schroeder, formerly chief executive officer of CoreLogic, will oversee the mortgage risk analytics business line for the company in the newly created role of executive vice president of risk management, reporting directly to Livermore. CoreLogic’s staff and operations will remain at its Sacramento, Calif., headquarters, and all products offered by each company will continue to be available to customers, according to First American. “This newly created company has the combined expertise and assets that allow our clients to identify, quantify and manage risk in a more transparent and precise way than previously possible,” stated Livermore. “By providing innovative analytical solutions that touch every stage of the life of the loan, we will be able to help our lender, servicer and mortgage-investor clients become more competitive and profitable.” Since 2004, RES has acquired analytics companies LoanPerformance, UK Valuation and Basis100 and has purchased minority stakes in The Bohan Group, ComplianceEase, BasePoint Analytics and Australia-based RP Data. Together, these companies provide data, analytics and decisioning solutions that address the most pressing challenges in mortgage risk management, including fraud prevention, collateral risk assessment, mortgage prepayment forecasting, regulatory compliance and due diligence reviews. “Since co-founding CoreLogic more than eight years ago, I have seen the market for mortgage risk management analytics grow from a specialty market to one that is rapidly expanding into every facet of the mortgage lending process,” said Schroeder. “This merger provides the infrastructure and scale necessary to meet the growing market demands and enhances our ability to fulfill our mission of safeguarding and streamlining the mortgage loan process.” For more information, visit http://www.firstamres.com/merger.
