Stewart Lender Services Acquires PMH Financial

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Stewart Lender Services (SLS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Title Company, announced today the acquisition of a majority ownership interest in PMH Financial. PMH Financial, previously majority-owned by Braddock Holdings Co., private equity affiliate of Denver-based Braddock Financial Corp., was founded in 2005, and is a leading, full-service REO outsource and subservicing company.

“This is an excellent move for our clients and helps to position our company for continued growth”

PMH provides REO services, short sale management, collateral valuation, subservicing, loan review and due diligence services to national and regional lenders. With a staff of more than 100 professionals in six states, PMH manages an active inventory of approximately $2.5 billion in real estate assets on behalf of financial institutions, loan servicers and hedge fund investors.

“This transaction represents a strategic acquisition for Stewart Lender Services,” said Jason Nadeau, president and CEO of Stewart Lender Services. “PMH will provide a great deal of synergy with a number of Stewart clients and services. PMH’s senior leadership team has some of the leading REO and servicing executives in our industry. We are very excited to have them join our team.”

“PMH has built its business by putting its clients first, attracting the highest quality staff, and establishing best-in-class business processes and infrastructure,” said Ken Glickstein, managing director of Braddock Holdings. “We believe that it is a natural fit to pair SLS and PMH together and look forward to seeing their continued growth as they realize the synergies from this combination. Braddock is very proud to have worked with the team at PMH as they have built the company into a leader in its industry.”

“This is an excellent move for our clients and helps to position our company for continued growth,” said Ken Blevins, president and CEO of PMH Financial. “Stewart is a market leader in providing a comprehensive set of default and mortgage origination services. By joining Stewart Lender Services, we can deliver greater value to our clients while offering them an expanded line of related products and services.”

About PMH Financial

PMH Financial is a financial services company offering a variety of products and services related to mortgage servicing, default administration, loss mitigation and real estate management. PMH is a full-service provider of residential and commercial real estate services including REO and short sale management, collateral valuation solutions, subservicing and default services and bulk portfolio acquisitions. More information can be found at http://www.pmhfinancial.com.

About Braddock Holdings Company, LLC

Braddock Holdings Company, LLC (BHC) is a private equity affiliate of Denver-based Braddock Financial Corp. This investment group seeks opportunities that bring synergy to portfolio companies by leveraging the core competencies of its parent company, Braddock Financial Corp. Braddock is an SEC-registered investment advisor. More information can be found at http://www.braddockholdings.com.

About Stewart Lender Services

Stewart Lenders Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Title Company, is a nationwide provider of centralized origination, loss mitigation and REO asset solutions for mortgage lenders and servicers. With more than a century of experience matched with the industry’s leading technologies, SLS helps lenders and servicers meet the rapidly changing demands of today’s market. SLS has the financial strength, industry knowledge and proven flexibility to perform throughout the lifecycle of a loan. More information can be found at http://www.stewartlenderservices.com.

About Stewart

Stewart Title Company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Information Services Corp. (NYSE-STC), a customer-driven, technology-enabled, strategically competitive, real estate information, title insurance and transaction management company. Stewart provides title insurance and related information services required for settlement by the real estate and mortgage industries throughout the United States and international markets. Stewart also provides post-closing lender services, automated county clerk land records, property ownership mapping, geographic information systems, property information reports, document preparation, background checks and expertise in tax-deferred exchanges. More information can be found at http://www.stewart.com, subscribe to the Stewart blog at http://blog.stewart.com or follow Stewart on Twitter @stewarttitleco.

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Forward-looking statements. Certain statements in this report are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relate to future, not past, events and often address our expected future business and financial performance. These statements often contain words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “will” or other similar words. Forward-looking statements by their nature are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to be materially different than those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the severity and duration of current financial and economic conditions; continued weakness or further adverse changes in the level of real estate activity; changes in mortgage interest rates and availability of mortgage financing; our ability to respond to and implement technology changes, including the completion of the implementation of our enterprise systems; the impact of unanticipated title losses on the need to further strengthen our policy loss reserves; any effect of title losses on our cash flows and financial condition; the impact of our increased diligence and inspections in our agency operations; changes to the participants in the secondary mortgage market and the rate of refinancings that affect the demand for title insurance products; our ability to successfully consummate acquisitions, and our ability to successfully integrate and manage acquired businesses should opportunities arise; regulatory non-compliance, fraud or defalcations by our title insurance agencies or employees; our ability to timely and cost-effectively respond to significant industry changes and introduce new products and services; the outcome of litigation claims by large classes of claimants; the impact of changes in governmental and insurance regulations, including any future reductions in the pricing of title insurance products and services; our dependence on our operating subsidiaries and underwriters as a source of cash flow; the continued realization of expected expense savings resulting from our expense reduction steps taken since 2008; our ability to access the equity and debt financing markets when and if needed; our ability to grow our international operations; our ability to respond to the actions of our competitors; failure to comply with financial covenants contained in our debt instruments; and inability to make scheduled payments on or refinance our indebtedness. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date hereof, except as may be required by applicable law.

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