Title Insurance Giant Fidelity Increases Offering Size

Title insurance giant Fidelity National Financial, Jacksonville, Fla., has increased the size of its planned public offering to 15.8 million shares, pricing the stock at $19.Originally, it was slated to sell 13.3 million shares. The new shares being issued are covered under an existing shelf registration the company has with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Earlier this week Fidelity said it would post a first-quarter loss of 6 to 10 cents a share, compared with a profit of 13 cents a year earlier. In December Fitch downgraded Fidelity's credit rating to junk after it bought LandAmerica, a troubled competitor in the title space. At press time its shares were trading at just over $19 a share compared to a 52-week low of $6.66 and a high of $22. Fidelity said it plans to use the proceeds of the stock sale "for general corporate purposes," including the potential repayment of $1.1 billion in syndicated credits.