by Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF – News) and LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: LFG – News) today announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement under which FNF will acquire LFG. [Press Release]
That means Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company and Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation will combine with Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title.
The combined company will have almost half of the real estate title insurance market, based on the Demotech Performance of Title Insurance Companies 2008 Edition.
Half the title insurance market? Usually, this sort of consolidation in the marketplace makes great sense for the companies but not so much for the customers. We’ll have to wait and see how this loss of competition affects the average title insurance customer.
I think this is going to happen more and more in this economy as some companies are not strong enough to exist alone.