FirstAm to purchase AVM supplier

The First American Corp. today signed a definitive agreement to acquire Basis100 Inc., a major supplier of automated valuation models to the U.S. mortgage lending industry. The transaction, which is subject to approval by Basis100's shareholders and debenture holders, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2004.

The transaction will be immediately accretive to First American earnings.

First American will acquire 100 percent of the equity of Basis100 through a cash payment of approximately $33 million to current holders of Basis100 common stock, warrants and options. Assuming the satisfaction of certain conditions, each Basis100 shareholder will receive approximately CDN$1.00 for every share acquired by First American. Additionally, First American will redeem outstanding Basis100 convertible debentures for a cash payment of approximately $11 million. By eliminating the overhead costs associated with duplicate facilities, infrastructure and administrative functions, First American expects to benefit from significant cost synergies over the next six months that will result in total pretax earnings of $10 million on an annualized basis.

First American gathers both proprietary and publicly accessible data and forms it into useful, decision-ready information products and services for the title, mortgage and credit industries.

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