Williston Financial Group Acquires West Coast Local Retail Title Operations From Doma
Doma Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DOMA) (“Doma”), and Williston Financial Group (“WFG”), a Portland, Oregon-based, full-service provider of title insurance, underwriting and escrow services for residential and commercial real estate transactions nationwide, have jointly announced the signing and closing of an agreement for WFG to acquire certain branches of Doma’s West Coast local retail title operations. The sale includes multiple retail title locations and operations centers in the Northern and Central California regions.
“This strategic transaction is aligned with our mission-driven go-forward strategy and refined focus on our core underwriting and technology business,” said Max Simkoff, Founder and CEO of Doma. “Our West Coast operations are premier locations within their respective real estate communities with a track record of providing excellent customer service. We believe we have found an optimal home for our Local team members in the branches we have sold to WFG and they will continue to thrive under their leadership. I want to thank this team for their hard work and dedication to Doma and our vision over the years.”
Since its 2010 founding, WFG’s leadership has assertively sought to expand the company’s services and market reach, achieving a national footprint faster than any other title underwriter, and this acquisition significantly expands WFG’s existing market coverage and client base in the vital Northern and Central California regions.
“We are thrilled to extend our California market reach through this acquisition, as it will significantly enhance our ability to serve the needs of our customers in these key growth regions,” said WFG Chairman and Founder Patrick F. Stone. “Since day one, our vision for WFG has been to eliminate friction, increase transparency and deliver a superior experience for our real estate, lender and title agent customers, as well as for the consumers we all serve. These new members of the WFG team share this vision, and we are extremely eager to join forces with them to enhance the customer experience in some of the nation’s strongest housing markets.”
This transaction follows Doma’s announcement on its first quarter 2023 earnings call that it had been conducting a comprehensive review of the business over the last several months to evaluate the optimal organization structure to successfully deliver on its mission to make homebuying more affordable and to maximize shareholder value. Doma’s go-forward strategy is centered around harnessing the power and benefits of its instant underwriting technology via the efficient and profitable distribution of its core technology by external partners with the end goal of bringing down refinance specific costs for homeowners. To execute on this strategy, Doma is currently finalizing and expects to enter into partnerships with some of the largest players in the national mortgage origination market while also reassessing anything in the business that is non-core.
In connection with the transaction, Houlihan Lokey is acting as a financial advisor to Doma and Mayer Brown LLP is acting as legal counsel to Doma.
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