Stewart Information Services Enhances Digital Mortgage Fulfillment Capabilities Through United States Appraisals Acquisition

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE:STC) announced today its acquisition of United States Appraisals, a move that strengthens Stewart’s digital real estate services offering in appraisal and valuation management. This move enhances Stewart’s existing title insurance, settlement services, appraisal/valuation, and other real estate services for lenders, consumer banks, investors and other mortgage industry partners in supporting real estate transactions on a national basis.

“At Stewart, our vision is to become the premier title services company. This acquisition shows our commitment to investing in Stewart by expanding our existing valuation service offerings, allowing us to serve our entire customer base better, propel additional growth and enable appraisal process innovation and modernization,” said Fred Eppinger, Stewart CEO.

“Expanding our appraisal footprint means Stewart offers all our customers increased scalability, depth and greater expertise across a wider variety of settlement services and digital solutions,” said Beth Fowler, Senior Vice President of Stewart Lender Services. “I’m excited about the opportunity in front of our team and new colleagues as we work together to be the industry's best service provider.”

For more than a decade, United States Appraisals has provided innovative residential management solutions and a demonstrated commitment to developing personal relationships that elevate both the client and appraiser experience. Their portfolio of clients, national appraisal expertise, and powerful technology, which includes the Valuguard Home Inspection mobile application, provides a foundation that will be a strong addition to Stewart’s existing capabilities.

“Today is an exciting day for United States Appraisals as we join a company that shares our commitment to provide the highest levels of service and innovative technology,” said Aaron Fowler, CEO, United States Appraisals. “It’s essential to align with a company with similar strategies and core values in this rapidly evolving mortgage service industry. We believe this partnership will allow us to expand our service offerings and serve our clients even better.”

Berkery Noyes served as exclusive financial advisor to United States Appraisals.

About Stewart

Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE-STC) is a global real estate services company, offering products and services through our direct operations, network of Stewart Trusted Providers™ and family of companies. From residential and commercial title insurance and closing and settlement services to specialized offerings for the mortgage industry, we offer the comprehensive service, deep expertise and solutions our customers need for any real estate transaction. At Stewart, we believe in building strong relationships – and these partnerships are the cornerstone of every closing, every transaction and every deal. Stewart. Real partners. Real possibilities.™ More information is available at stewart.com, subscribe to the Stewart blog at blog.stewart.com, or follow Stewart on Twitter^® @stewarttitleco. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Forward-looking statements. Certain statements in this news release 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," "foresee" 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 volatility of economic conditions, including the timing and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; adverse changes in the level of real estate activity; changes in mortgage interest rates, existing and new home sales, 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 or the need to strengthen our policy loss reserves; any effect of title losses on our cash flows and financial condition; the ability to attract and retain highly productive sales associates; the impact of vetting our agency operations for quality and profitability; independent agency remittance rates; changes to the participants in the secondary mortgage market and the rate of refinancing that affects the demand for title insurance products; 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 pending litigation; 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 as a source of cash flow; our ability to access the equity and debt financing markets when and if needed; our ability to grow our international operations; seasonality and weather; and our ability to respond to the actions of our competitors. These risks and uncertainties, as well as others, are discussed in more detail in our documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and if applicable, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. All forward-looking statements included in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by such cautionary statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update, amend or clarify any forward-looking statements contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date hereof, except as may be required by applicable law.