ICE, Black Knight to Sell Unit in Bid for FTC Deal Approval (1)

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. agreed to divest Black Knight Inc.’s loan origination business in a bid to persuade the Federal Trade Commission to allow its acquisition to move forward.

ICE and Black Knight have agreed to the sale of Black Knight’s Empower loan origination system business to Constellation Software Inc., the companies said in a statement Tuesday. The deal as proposed would create a near monopoly in loan origination software: Exchange operator ICE’s Ellie Mae Inc. operates the Encompass platform which is the most widely used for loan origination. Black Knight’s Empower is the second-biggest player in that market. ...