The sale of the MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates U.S. and U.K. property information business to private equity group TPG Capital will close Tuesday, multiple sources confirmed to Mortgage Technology.
Announced in November, the deal calls for San Francisco-based TPG to acquire Richmond, British Columbia-based MDA’s DataQuick and Mindbox units (collectively known as the Wilmington, Del.-based MDA Lending Solutions) and its Los Angeles-based insurance information and valuation provider Marshall & Swift from MDA for $850 million. An official announcement is expected later today.
DataQuick provides technology and data related to property history and characteristics, sales and loan information and market valuation derived from county assessor and recorder data. MindBox provides decisioning technology for mortgage pricing, product selection, approval and underwriting.
Marshall & Swift develops and provides residential and commercial property valuation technology to the North American property and casualty insurance industry. Its data is used to determine property insurance coverage amounts, identify inaccurate insurance coverage, estimate, manage and analyze claims.
TPG, formerly known as Texas Pacific Group, holds $47 billion in assets under management. Its previous and current holdings include a variety of technology, real estate and insurance companies, including Fidelity National Information Services, Alltel Wireless, multiple semiconductor companies, computer manufacturing giant Lenovo and travel website Hotwire and Sabre Holdings, parent of Travelocity.
In addition, TPG has formed real estate joint ventures with Caruso Capital Partners in the U.S. and Green Property in the UK and Ireland. Other real estate intensive businesses TPG has held stakes in include Harrah's, Neiman Marcus and PETCO.
The deal allows MDA to divest itself of a business line that doesn’t fit with its core activities, aerospace technology, including robotics and satellite equipment, while it puts TPG in the middle of the foreclosure space, as Marshall & Swift technology provides "as-is" and "as-repaired" valuations for real estate owned properties the Department of Housing and Urban Development repossesses when a borrower defaults on an Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgage.
