Constellation Software Agrees to Acquire Optimal Blue from Black Knight, Intercontinental Exchange

By Adriano Marchese

Constellation Software said Monday that it has agreed to acquire the secondary market solutions and actionable data services business of Black Knight and Intercontinental Exchange for a total of $700 million.

The Canadian diversified software company said its Perseus operating group has entered into a binding commitment with the two New York-listed companies to acquire Optimal Blue.

The Perseus operating group is one of Constellation's operating groups that acquires and invests in software businesses.

The structure of the proposed transaction includes a $200-million cash payment and a promissory note worth $500 million.

The completion of the transaction is subject to the acquisition of Black Knight by Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, as well as Constellation's acquisition of Black Knight's loan origination system business, Empower, which was announced earlier in March.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission voted in March to sue to block Intercontinental Exchange from completing its $11.7 billion acquisition of mortgage software provider Black Knight on the grounds that the deal would lead to higher prices for software that lenders use to generate mortgages.

Black Knight's sale of Empower was largely to win clearance for the acquisition to go through.

Write to Adriano Marchese at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2023 09:09 ET (13:09 GMT)

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