Fidelity Buying Alltel Division

Fidelity National Financial, Irvine, Calif., which has been on an acquisition tear, has struck again -- this time, agreeing to buy the financial services technology division of Alltel, Little Rock.FNF, a third-party vendor that provides title insurance and other real-estate-related services to residential lenders, will pay $1.05 billion in cash and stock for the Jacksonville, Fla.-based unit. Alltel operates the largest residential loan "service bureau," but that business faces challenges as some large servicers, notably Washington Mutual, move to install in-house systems. FNF's interest in Alltel was first reported in early January by National Mortgage News. Alltel says its servicing bureau processes 46% of all outstanding residential loans in the United States. The company noted that it has "processing relationships" with 17 of the top 25 mortgage funders. (See the Feb. 3 issue of NMN for full details.)