D.A. Davidson & Co. Acts as the Exclusive Strategic and Financial Advisor to Informative Research in Its $192 Million Sale to Stewart Information Services Corporation

Transaction accentuates firm’s real estate and mortgage technology domain expertise

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- D.A. Davidson & Co. announced today that it has served as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Informative Research (“IR”), a leading provider of technology-enabled data, analytics and credit decisioning products and services to the U.S. mortgage community, in its sale to Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE:STC), a global real estate services company, in a transaction that values IR at approximately $192 million.

Established in 1946 and headquartered in Garden Grove, California, IR serves more than 3,000 customers across the United States and offers a wide range of mission critical solutions through its proprietary platform to streamline the mortgage loan cycle.

“Joining the Stewart family accelerates our ability to develop and bring to market additional products and services that will better serve the lending and real estate industry. We’re excited to be able to help drive the creation of a holistic loan and real estate analytical service and closing process at Stewart,” said Sean Buckner, president and CEO of Informative Research. “Through our technology suite, Informative Research allows customers to improve sales and profits while reducing risk, which makes it a perfect fit with Stewart. We look forward to a bright future as we help our customers drive performance and succeed.”

With this transaction, IR expects to be better able to enhance and develop products and services to serve its customers that rely on IR’s proprietary technology for workflow automation tools and lead generation insights and will significantly accelerate Stewart’s efforts to advance its data and analytics capabilities as part of an end-to-end, customer-focused, real estate services and technology platform.

“The team at D.A. Davidson was invaluable in helping us evaluate and achieve our preferred outcome, which resulted in this agreement with Stewart,” added Buckner. “Their transaction expertise, critical thinking, unparalleled understanding of the Mortgage Tech sector and commitment throughout the process made sure that we selected the right partner and reached a highly desirable outcome for all stakeholders.”

“Sean and the rest of the IR team have built a fantastic and differentiated platform that empowers their customers to integrate digitization and automation capabilities within the mortgage loan life cycle,” said Aalap B. Merchant, managing director at D.A. Davidson. “We are honored to have advised IR as they partner with Stewart to take their platform solution to the next level making them a clear leader within the mortgage tech eco-system.”

D.A. Davidson’s technology investment banking practice is one of the most active middle market groups in the United States having advised on over 50 advisory and public equity transactions representing more than $20 billion in value since January 2021.

D.A. Davidson’s investment banking division is a leading full-service investment bank that offers comprehensive financial advisory and capital markets expertise. The group has extensive transaction experience serving middle market clients worldwide across four industry verticals: consumer, diversified industrials, financial institutions, and technology.

Together with its European strategic partner, MCF Corporate Finance, D.A. Davidson originates and executes transatlantic M&A transactions under the common brand of D.A. Davidson MCF International.

About D.A. Davidson Companies

D.A. Davidson Companies is an employee-owned financial services firm offering a range of financial services and advice to individuals, corporations, institutions and municipalities nationwide. Founded in 1935 and headquartered in Montana, with corporate offices in Denver, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle, the company has approximately 1,400 employees and offices in 28 states.

Subsidiaries include: D.A. Davidson & Co., the largest full-service investment firm headquartered in the Northwest, providing wealth management, investment banking, equity and fixed income capital markets services and advice; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional asset management firm; D.A. Davidson Trust Company, a trust and wealth management company; and Davidson Fixed Income Management, a registered investment adviser providing fixed income portfolio and advisory services.

For information, visit dadavidson.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211004005797/en/

Emily Roy

Prosek for D.A. Davidson

(646) 818-9232

eroy@prosek.com

Source: D.A. Davidson & Co.