Fidelity National Financial [1](FNF) announced the acquisition of Hudson & Marshall [2] (H&M), a full-service auction company, Monday. Industry reaction was instantaneous, as was a jump in FNF’s stock.
FNF and H&M are partnering to further enhance the services FNF can provide to its lender, servicer, and real estate agent relationships. Under FNF’s umbrella, ServiceLink [3], a provider of transaction services to the mortgage and finance industries, is launching ServiceLink Auction, a full-service auction platform that will provide foreclosure and REO auction services fully integrated with ServiceLink’s suite of products. H&M will be the driving force behind this new service.
“With ServiceLink Auction, we are providing a service for our customers who have been looking for auction alternatives,” said Chris Azur, CEO of ServiceLink. “This service complements our default offerings and allows us to be the single service provider that the industry can count on to provide timely liquidity and optimal market value in the disposition of assets.”
Alpha One, a unit of Accern, rates the sentiment of media coverage by analyzing more than 20 million news and blog sources in real time. Ranking coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, the news of FNF scored a 0.31 on Alpha One’s scale. The news articles that came out on the acquisition had an impact score of 80 out of 100 meaning that the media coverage is likely to have an immediate effect on stock.
According to WatchListNews.com [4]FNF “traded up 1.31 percent during midday trading on Monday, hitting $41.72. The stock had a trading volume of 1,503,303 shares. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $39.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.54.”
“As the industry leader in quality, compliance and an overarching commitment to customer excellence, ServiceLink is committed to consistently meeting the needs of our changing industry,” Azur said. “In partnership with Hudson and Marshall’s long-history of auction leadership and innovative technology platforms, we are certain that ServiceLink Auction will become the go-to resource for servicers.”
Trixy Castro, CEO of Hudson & Marshall, was originally founder and CEO of Genesis Auctions, which H&M previously merged with in 2015. She then took over at Hudson & Marshall.
“The partnership with ServiceLink provides an even greater reach for Hudson & Marshall’s innovative disposition offerings,” said Castro. “It’s a great match and we are excited about the impact we can make together on the real estate industry.”