Fidelity National Title Group, Inc. Announces the Formation of a Special Committee of its Board of Directors to Evaluate and Ne
27 April 2006 - 10:01PM
PR Newswire (US)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fidelity
National Title Group, Inc. (NYSE:FNT), the nation's largest title
insurance company and a majority-owned, publicly traded subsidiary
of Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF), today announced
that its Board of Directors has formed a special committee to
evaluate and negotiate a formal proposal, when and if received from
FNF, with respect to the previously announced FNF plan to eliminate
the FNF holding company structure and result in what will become a
new FNF and the existing Fidelity National Information Services,
Inc. (NYSE: FIS) becoming independent public companies. The plan
announced by FNF involves a number of transactions that would
effectively result in the three public companies that currently
comprise the FNF family of companies, FNF, FNT and FIS, becoming
two public companies, a new FNF and the existing FIS. The new FNF
would have no ownership interest in FIS and FNT would no longer be
used as a trading symbol. FNF has announced that completion of the
transactions would be subject to a number of conditions, including
but not limited to, preparation of a definitive proposal for the
transactions and negotiation of definitive agreements; approval of
the boards of directors and shareholders of each of FNF, FNT and
FIS; the receipt of a private letter ruling from the Internal
Revenue Service; the clearance of proxy statements and registration
statements by the Securities and Exchange Commission; the receipt
of all necessary regulatory approvals for the transfer of FNF's
specialty insurance operations to FNT and for the spin-off of FNT's
insurance operations; the receipt of necessary approvals under
credit agreements of FNF, FNT and FIS and any other material
agreements; and any other conditions set forth in the definitive
agreements for the transactions, once completed. There can be no
assurance that any or all of these conditions will be satisfied or
that the transactions will be completed. Fidelity National Title
Group, Inc. is the nation's largest title insurance company. The
Company's title insurance underwriters - Fidelity National Title,
Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title -
issue approximately 31 percent of all title insurance policies in
the United States. Through its direct operations and agencies, the
Company provides title insurance in 49 states, the District of
Columbia, Guam, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and
Canada. In 2005, FNT also acquired Service Link, a leading provider
of title and closing services to major financial institutions and
lenders, including six of the top 10 lending institutions in the
United States ranked by loan origination volume. More information
about Fidelity National Title Group can be found at
http://www.fntg.com/. FNT is a majority-owned subsidiary of
Fidelity National Financial Inc., number 248 on the Fortune 500 and
a provider of products and outsourced services and solutions to a
variety of industries. More information about FNF can be found at
http://www.fnf.com/. This press release contains forward-looking
statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties.
Statements that are not historical facts, including statements
about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs, as
well as assumptions made by, and information currently available
to, management. Because such statements are based on expectations
as to future economic performance and are not statements of fact,
actual results may differ materially from those projected. We
undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
The risks and uncertainties which forward-looking statements are
subject to include, but are not limited to: the possibility that
the proposals described in this press release will not be
completed, or will be completed in a different form or with
different effects on holders of the stock of FNF, FNT or FIS than
described by FNF, or will not be successful in achieving the goals
targeted; changes in general economic, business and political
conditions, including changes in the financial markets; adverse
changes in the level of real estate activity, which may be caused
by, among other things, high or increasing interest rates, a
limited supply of mortgage funding or a weak U. S. economy;
compliance with extensive regulations; regulatory investigations of
the title insurance industry; our business concentration in the
State of California, the source of over 20% of our title insurance
premiums; our dependence on distributions from our title insurance
underwriters as our main source of cash flow; competition from
other title insurance companies; FNF's need to maintain more than
80% ownership of our common stock for various tax purposes; and
other risks detailed in the "Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Information," "Risk Factors" and other sections of the Company's
Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. DATASOURCE: Fidelity National Title Group, Inc.
CONTACT: Daniel Kennedy Murphy, Senior Vice President, Finance and
Investor Relations, +1-904-854-8120, Web site: http://www.fntg.com/
http://www.fnf.com/
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