[The First American Corporation Logo]
The First American Corporation
1 First American Way o Santa Ana, California o (714)800-3000 o (800) 854-3643
Contact:
Tom Klemens NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Executive Vice President
& Chief Financial Officer
(714) 800-4402
FIRST AMERICAN AND LANDAMERICA FORM JOINT VENTURE -
ESTABLISHMENT OF ADVANCED TITLE INFORMATION DELIVERY SYSTEM
MARKS A NEW ERA IN TITLE AUTOMATION
SANTA ANA, Calif.,- July 31, 2000 - The First American Corporation
(NYSE: FAF), the nation's leading provider of business information and related
products and services, and LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: LFG), a
premier provider of title insurance and a broad range of real estate-related
products and services, today announced that they have joined their efforts to
create an advanced title information delivery system in order to reduce
production costs, achieve automation objectives and improve overall operating
efficiencies. By providing access to the nation's two largest title information
databases with an established technology platform, the companies have created
the most advanced and comprehensive title information delivery system in the
world.
Under the terms of the agreement, First American will contribute its
Smart Title Solutions (STS) division, which it acquired in 1997 in partnership
with Experian; and LandAmerica will contribute its Datatrace division. The
combined entities will be called Data Trace Information Services, and, as
majority owner, First American will act as the managing partner of the venture.
The new Data Trace, with projected annual revenues in excess of $75 million, is
a major step toward the creation of a standardized and centralized national
network of title information databases.
"For the first time ever, two title industry competitors are coming
together as partners and making tremendous gains in developing a technology
infrastructure that will effectively re-engineer the title production process,"
said Parker S. Kennedy, president of The First American Corporation. "The Data
Trace system will allow production facilities anywhere in the nation to access a
network of standardized databases."
"We are committed to supporting the ongoing development of technology
that results in improved operating efficiencies and responsive and
cost-effective underwriting solutions," said Charles H. Foster Jr., chairman and
chief executive officer of LandAmerica. "Data Trace customers will access
technology that allows them to deliver quality service at lower costs."
The Data Trace system, using the Internet, private networks and
proprietary Web-enabled software, provides improved coverage by connecting a
number of independent, regional title databases into a standardized title
information data center. Title companies with local and regional databases,
whose content is managed by the Data Trace system, gain access to national title
information that allows them to expand their reach beyond the territory covered
by their own data.
By combining the four information sources used by title companies to
render title decisions (title information, recorded document images, tax
assessment and payment information) into a single desktop application, Data
Trace provides a major step toward the development of a single-seat production
system that offers the ability to search and process title transactions
nationwide from a single location.
Data Trace will maintain its headquarters in Anaheim Hills, Calif.,
with regional offices in major metropolitan areas such as Cleveland, Detroit,
Dallas, Houston, Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Phoenix, Honolulu and Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla. Mike Henney, who served as president of STS, has been named
president of Data Trace.
LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc., headquartered in Richmond, Va., is a
premier provider of title insurance and a broad range of real estate-related
products and services. LandAmerica, through its subsidiaries Commonwealth Land
Title Insurance Company, Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation and Transnation
Title Insurance Company, services its residential and commercial customers with
more than 600 offices throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin
America and the Caribbean.
The First American Corporation, based in Santa Ana, Calif., is the
nation's leading provider of business information and related products and
services. The corporation's three primary business segments include: title
insurance and services; real estate information and services, which includes
mortgage information services and database information and services; and
consumer information and services, which provides home warranties; automotive,
subprime and direct-to-consumer credit reporting; property and casualty
insurance; property and automotive insurance tracking services; resident
screening; pre-employment screening; investment advisory; and trust and banking
services. Information about the company and an archive of its press releases can
be found on the Internet at www.firstam.com.
Any statements in this document that look forward in time involve risks
and uncertainties, including but not limited to the following: the effect of
interest rate fluctuations; changes in the performance of the real estate
markets; the effect of changing economic conditions; general volatility in the
capital markets; the demand for and the acceptance of the company's products;
changes in applicable government regulations; continued consolidation among the
company's significant customers; consolidation among significant competitors;
the impact of the legal proceedings commenced by the California attorney general
and related litigation; the continued ability to identify businesses to be
acquired; and changes in the company's ability to integrate businesses which it
acquires. The company's actual results, performance or achievement could differ
materially from those expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking
statements, and, accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events
anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur or, if any
of them do, what impact they will have on the results of operations or financial
condition of the company.