FNF Delays Spinoff of Servicing Tech Unit

Fidelity National Financial, Jacksonville, Fla., has delayed the spinoff of its servicing technology unit and is cautioning that the IPO may never happen.In a statement released Thursday, FNF management blamed the delayed spinoff/initial public offering on a "relatively weak and unpredictable" equities market. It also cited its just-announced $400 million acquisition of a bank technology firm as a reason for the delay. Meanwhile, a source familiar with the company told MortgageWire that a top-20 residential servicer that uses the unit -- Fidelity National Information Services -- as its mortgage service bureau is contemplating switching systems and using Fiserv. (See the Sept. 13 issue of National Mortgage News for more details.) Officials at both Fiserv and FNIF declined to comment. FNF bought FNIF (then called Alltel Information Systems) for $1 billion back in January 2003.