Guardian Mortgage Documents Inc. has been acquired by a former client, LenderLive Network Inc., in the latest fallout related to Mercury Companies Inc.’s hasty exit from the title insurance and settlement services business.
Denver-based LenderLive, which provides outsourcing services for lenders, including mortgage originations, loan processing, underwriting, closing and post-closing, said it will leave Guardian’s management and operations intact, with founder Michael O’Leary continuing as president of the company.
Guardian has provided document preparation and delivery services to the mortgage industry since 1987. It claims several top 10 lenders as clients and and has been the exclusive provider of document preparation services to LenderLive for a decade.
Document preparation was the only part of the loan origination cycle LenderLive had outsourced, and acquiring Guardian gives the company end-to-end origination capabilities.
"This acquisition takes our longstanding relationship with Guardian management and its staff to the next level, allowing us to capitalize on the tremendous synergies that are already in place," Rick Seehausen, president of LenderLive, said in a statement.
Since December, Guardian’s parent, Mercury Cos., has shut down title and escrow operations in California, Arizona, Texas, Oregon and Nevada. On Aug. 5, the company reached a deal to sell its remaining title and escrow operations in Colorado to Fidelity National Financial Inc.
The sale was opposed by First American Corp., which bankrolled the rapid growth of Mercury’s subsidiaries during the housing boom by providing nearly $100 million in financing, but a judge refused to block it (see story).
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