Fidelity National Financial, Inc., and Stewart Information Services Corporation have agreed to terminate Fidelity's proposed merger with Stewart due to the Federal Trade Commission's issuance of an administrative complaint seeking to block the merger.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Fidelity will make a payment of $50 million to Stewart in connection with the termination of the proposed merger.
In a statement, Bruce Hoffman, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, said that the decision by Fidelity and Stewart to abandon their proposed transaction was "good news for everyone who requires title insurance when purchasing real estate in the United States. These customers will continue to benefit from vigorous competition for title insurance underwriting and title information services."
The FTC's administrative complaint authorized staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal district court to stop the proposed $1.2 billion acquisition.
The FTC alleged that the merger would reduce the "Big 4" to the "Big 3" title insurers, substantially reducing competition in state markets for title insurance underwriting for large commercial transactions and in several local markets for title information services.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].