The acquisition complements the company's majority stake in MERS
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which acquired a majority stake in MERS two years ago, has announced its acquisition of Simplifile, a real estate documentation and technology provider for mortgage lenders.
ICE will pay $335 million to acquire the Utah-based company. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. The acquisition, along with ICE’s ownership of MERS, expands the ICE mortgage services portfolio. The MERS system is a national electronic database that tracks changes in mortgage servicing and beneficial ownership interests in residential mortgage loans.
“Simplifile and MERS support the residential lending industry’s shift to digitization and will, together, make the mortgage closing process simpler, faster, and more transparent for a range of industry stakeholders,” ICE said in a statement.
“Originators, consumers, and investors can obtain significant benefits and savings as the real estate process shifts from paper-based to digital transactions” said Chris McEntree, president of ICE Mortgage Services. “Simplifile understood this trend early, uniquely solving for the critical aspect of submitting required documents into the public record in a seamless, auditable and transparent method. By connecting lenders, settlement agents, and counties through a robust network, Simplifile will enhance ICE’s efforts to further streamline a legacy process ripe for innovation.”
Simplifile was founded in 2000. Beginning with Utah County, it started the process of onboarding all 3,594 mortgage recording jurisdictions in the US with the purpose of digitizing the closing process. Today, Simplifile connects 1,922 counties across the US.
“We’ve seen how ICE has helped to transform markets going through an analog-to-digital conversion and has made them more transparent and efficient for all participants,” said Paul Clifford, founder and president of Simplifile. “We are closely aligned with ICE’s vision as it applies to the residential mortgage industry, and, as we become part of Intercontinental Exchange, our team at Simplifile will continue our efforts to simplify the industry for all of its stakeholders.”
