Santa Ana’s First American Financial Corp. (NYSE: FAF), one of the nation’s largest title insurers, is buying Mother Lode Holding Co. to expand in 11 states.
Mother Lode, based in Phoenix, provides title insurance, underwriting and escrow services for residential and commercial real estate transactions with 17 operating subsidiaries throughout the U.S., including its principal subsidiary Placer Title Co. The purchase price was undisclosed.
Mother Lode, which has 92 offices in 11 states, has premier brands within their respective real estate communities, First American said.
The Phoenix company’s “reach, expertise and commitment to superior customer service aligns well with our existing operations and will augment our efforts to expand our coverage in key growth markets,” said Dennis Gilmore, chief executive at First American, said in a statement. With the acquisition, “we will expand our ability to serve customers throughout many of the strongest housing markets in the U.S.”
Following the close, Mother Lode and its operating subsidiaries will continue to operate under their existing brands.
Mother Lode CEO Randy Bradley, Chief Operating Officer Lisa Steele and President Darrick Blatnick will remain with the company and manage the day-to-day operations.
First American has been actively pursuing acquisitions to boost and expand its core business. In the past two years, it’s bought Docutech, ServiceMac, Title Security Agency and Georgetown Title.
Houlihan Lokey is acting as financial adviser to Mother Lode.
First American plans to announce fourth-quarter results on Feb. 10. Analysts are expecting sales to fall 7.8% to $2 billion. Still the stock last week traded around $79.54, near its 52-week high of $81.54, with an $8.6 billion market cap.
