First Advantage Buys CIG

First Advantage Corp., St. Petersburg, Fla., and First American Corp., Santa Anna, Calif., have signed an agreement whereby First Advantage, a risk mitigation and business solutions provider, will acquire the Credit Information Group, a First American company, in an all-stock transaction.First American and First Advantage originally announced a letter of intent for the transaction on March 22, and the agreement has now been approved by the boards of both companies and a committee of First Advantage's independent directors. Under the pact, First American and its First American Real Estate Solutions joint venture will contribute their mortgage, automotive, consumer and subprime credit businesses to First Advantage in exchange for approximately 27.8 million shares of First Advantage class B common stock, valued at $570 million (based on a price of $20.50 per share), the companies said. First Advantage will also issue 975,610 class B shares to First American in a $20 million debt-to-equity conversion. Additional shares of First Advantage class B common stock totaling approximately 1.27 million (valued at $26 million) may be issued to First American in connection with a prospective CIG acquisition. When completed, First Advantage's acquisition of CIG will increase First American's ownership interest in First Advantage from 67% to about 80%. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fadv.com and http://www.firstam.com.