New York (awp/afp) – Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the NYSE, one of the two New York stock exchanges, will acquire Black Knight, a specialist in IT services for the real estate sector, valued at 13.1 billions of dollars. The proposed price of $85 per share represents a 33% premium to Tuesday’s closing price.
On Wednesday, the share price had already taken 14% on the strength of information from the Bloomberg agency indicating ICE’s interest in this transaction. Unknown to the general public, Black Knight offers software, maintenance and data analysis to businesses in the wider real estate industry.
This includes real estate transactions, but also mortgage credit (the main form of borrowing in the United States) and the management of loan portfolios already issued. Present in the management of exchange platforms and the analysis of financial data, ICE has been seeking, for several years, to develop in IT at the service of real estate.
In 2020, he had already taken control of Ellie Mae, another giant in the computer management of real estate loans, for 11 billion dollars. ICE expects to complete the acquisition of Black Knight, financed 80% in cash and 20% in shares, in the first half of 2023.
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