Simplifile to sell to MERS parent
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Industry News
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
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Simplifile has agreed to sell the Utah-based company to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of MERS, for $335 million, the companies announced late Wednesday.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, and upon closing, Simplifile and its 200 employees will continue to be based in Provo and operate under the Simplifile name, the companies said in a news release.
“We’ve seen how ICE has helped to transform markets going through an analog to digital conversion and has made them more transparent and efficient for all participants,” Simplifile founder and President Paul Clifford said. “We are closely aligned with ICE’s vision as it applies to the residential mortgage industry and, as we become part of Intercontinental Exchange, our team at Simplifile will continue our efforts to simplify the industry for all of its stakeholders.”
Simplifile will expand the ICE Mortgage Services portfolio, which includes MERS. Simplifile and MERS support the residential lending industry’s shift to digitization and will, together, help to make the mortgage closing process simpler, faster, and more transparent for a range of industry stakeholders, ICE said. Simplifile has no debt for ICE to absorb in the acquisition.
“Originators, consumers, and investors can obtain significant benefits and savings as the real estate process shifts from paper-based to digital transactions. Simplifile understood this trend early, uniquely solving for the critical aspect of submitting required documents into the public record in a seamless, auditable and transparent method,” ICE Mortgage Services President Chris McEntee said. “By connecting lenders, settlement agents, and counties through a robust network, Simplifile will enhance ICE’s efforts to further streamline a legacy process ripe for innovation.”
Simplifile was founded in 2000 with the goal of digitizing the closing process of the real estate industry, the release stated. Starting with Utah County, it began the process of onboarding, one by one, all 3,594 mortgage recording jurisdictions in the U.S. Simplifile today connects 1,922 counties in the United States, representing more than 80 percent of the U.S. population. Leveraging its core eRecording product, Simplifile continues to introduce additional electronic solutions to serve the entire real estate transaction supply chain. The company has delivered a consistent history of revenue growth and has been profitable every year since its founding.
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