First American Pushes Back Spin-off Target Date

The target date for the spin-off of First American Corp.'s financial services businesses from its information solutions businesses has been pushed back two months because of outstanding approvals. The new target, the company said in its yearend results release, is June 1, 2010. For the fourth quarter and full year 2009, First American had net earnings of $38 million and $200 million compared with net losses of $67 million and $26 million, respectively, one year prior. For the fourth quarter of 2009, First American had net total charges of $25 million, including nearly $9 million of restructuring charges related to the purchase of First Advantage stock, employee separation costs of $7 million, investment losses of nearly $9 million and $3 million of spin-off related costs, offset by a $3 million claim recovery. Revenue in the title insurance segment in the fourth quarter was $948 million, up 15% over the previous year, with pretax income of $45 million, compared with a loss of $97 million one year prior.