FNF Forms Black Knight Mortgage Tech Subsidiary

Title insurance company Fidelity National Financial is forming a new mortgage technology and services subsidiary called Black Knight Financial Services from its ServiceLink division and very recent acquisition Lender Processing Services. It has also appointed Tom Sanzone to be chief executive of the new unit; Sanzone was formerly CAO of Merrill Lynch, CIO of Credit Suisse, a CIO of Citigroup, managing director and head of global application development at Salomon Brothers, and most recently executive vice president at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

Fidelity National just closed its purchase of LPS January 3.

LPS and ServiceLink both provide services and technology for mortgage lenders through all phases of the loan process, from origination through default.

The new Black Knight Financial Services unit will sell a wide swath of products including three loan origination systems (Empower, PCLender and Lending Space); the RealEC portal; the MSP mortgage servicing platform; LPS Desktop and Fusion, servicing workflow platforms; and property and loan performance databases. It will also provide title, closing and escrow services; flood certifications; appraisals; and default services.

William Foley II is the chairman of both FNF and Black Knight Financial Services Inc. Chris Azur is now CEO of ServiceLink. Kirk Larsen is the chief financial officer of Black Financial Services Inc. and the former corporate executive vice president of finance and treasurer of FIS.

Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners now holds a 35% stake in each of Black Knights' two operating subsidiaries, ServiceLink Holdings LLC and Black Knight Financial Services LLC. The firm received a contractual stake in these businesses in October when the LPS deal terms were revised to increase the cash component.