Fidelity Agrees to Buy LSI

Fidelity National Financial Inc., a title insurance and real-estate-related services company based in Irvine, Calif., has agreed to acquire Lender's Service Inc., an appraisal management, residential title, and closing firm based in Coraopolis, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh.The terms of the deal were not disclosed. LSI will be part of Fidelity's National Lender Solutions group, which provides title, closing, and recording services to the mortgage origination and servicing markets. "The purchase of LSI signifies a major step toward Fidelity National's goal of building National Lender Solutions into a full-service provider to the mortgage industry," said Ron Frazier, senior vice president and National Lender Solutions division manager. LSI said its appraisal, title, and closing clients include 23 of the top 25 mortgage originators. Its majority investor is Desai Capital. LSI is already a participant in the RealEC transaction network, which is majority owned by Fidelity. Fidelity can be found online at http://www.fnf.com, and LSI can be found at http://www.lendersservice.com.