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43 Follow Us At: @DSNewsDaily Industry Updates ICE ANNOUNCES DEAL TO ACQUIRE BLACK KNIGHT Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) has announced the acquisition of Black Knight Inc. in a cash and stock transaction at a market value of $13.1 billion. ICE is the same firm that purchased cloud-based platform Ellie Mae for $11 billion in August 2020, following a $335 million deal for Simplifile in 2019. ICE also took a majority stake of MERS in 2016, and purchased the company outright in 2018. "ICE already owns Encompass, the most commonly utilized loan origination system. Black Knight has a competing LOS called Empower," said Gabriel Skelton, Director of Banking and Mortgage Automation Solutions at OpenBots, in a LinkedIn post. "Additionally, Black Knight has one of the most popular loan servicing systems with their MSP product. Not to mention the ICE also owns the New York Stock Exchange. If this gets passed by regulators, what will this mean for the mortgage technology industry? Will ICE delve into Intelligent Document Processing, Robotic Process Automation, or Artificial Intelligence next within their systems?" e addition of Black Knight's tech solutions strengthens ICE's growing mortgage technology business by increasing automation, while harnessing data that can help current homeowners lower their monthly payments and lessen the likelihood of default. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Black Knight employs approximately 6,500 and is a provider of an integrated ecosystem of software, data, and analytics solutions serving the real estate and housing finance markets. Eric Lee, VP at Black Knight, was excited at news of the $13.1 billion deal, "Big news for ICE, Black Knight, and our customers. Exciting things to come for everyone!" he wrote via LinkedIn. e ICE-Black Knight transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, following the receipt of regulatory approvals, Black Knight stockholder approval, and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. "Black Knight shares our passion for leveraging technology to serve customers and households, and, with our expertise in operating networks and marketplaces, our planned acquisition will bring to life a true end-to-end solution for the mortgage manufacturing and servicing ecosystem, benefitting aspiring and current homeowners across the United States," said Jeffrey C. Sprecher, Founder, Chair, and CEO of ICE.