The First American Corporation, a Santa Ana, Calif.-headquartered provider of business information, plans to spin off its financial services companies – consisting primarily of its title insurance and specialty insurance reporting segments – into a separate public company to be called First American Financial Corporation.
The information solutions company, which will consist primarily of the current property information and mortgage information segments, as well as First American's 75% interest in First Advantage Corp., will remain at the existing holding company, which will be renamed prior to the separation, First American says.
The transaction, which the company anticipates will be tax-free to shareholders, is expected to close in the third quarter. Once the transaction is complete, First American shareholders will own 100% of the common equity in both the financial services and the information solutions companies.
Both companies are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange, with the financial services company expected to trade under the current ticker symbol FAF.