FTC reconsiders opposition to Black Knight deal

Divestiture of data subsidiary alleviates some antitrust concerns.


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  • | 11:20 a.m. July 20, 2023
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Jacksonville-based Black Knight Inc. and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. announced an agreement July 17 to sell Black Knight’s Optimal Blue data subsidiary.
Jacksonville-based Black Knight Inc. and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. announced an agreement July 17 to sell Black Knight’s Optimal Blue data subsidiary.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is reconsidering its opposition to Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s acquisition of Black Knight Inc., after Black Knight agreed to sell one of its business units.

ICE and Jacksonville-based Black Knight announced an agreement July 17 to sell Black Knight’s Optimal Blue data subsidiary to Constellation Software Inc. for $700 million.

The FTC in March said it was opposed to Atlanta-based ICE’s acquisition of Black Knight because of concerns the merger company would control too much of the U.S. mortgage technology market.

The FTC filed an administrative complaint against the merger and then in April filed a request for an injunction to stop the deal in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.

A hearing on the request for an injunction was scheduled to begin July 24. But after the Optimal Blue deal was announced, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín agreed on July 17 to a motion by both parties to delay the hearing to Aug. 14.

The FTC filed another motion in its administrative law case July 19 seeking to withdraw the matter from adjudication for now.

“The planned sale of Optimal Blue is a significant development in this case and requires time for Complaint Counsel to (1) analyze the implications of the divestiture for the administrative proceedings, (2) discuss a potential resolution of the pending matter with Respondents, and (3) advise the Commission,” the motion said.

ICE agreed to buy Black Knight in May 2022 and the parties hoped to complete the merger in the first half of 2023, before the FTC said it would not clear the deal on antitrust grounds.

Black Knight’s main business is mortgage technology. ICE is best known as the operator of the New York Stock Exchange but it also has a large mortgage technology subsidiary.

The FTC said in announcing its administrative complaint in March the merger “would reduce competition in key areas of the mortgage process.”

Black Knight and ICE said when announcing the Optimal Blue sale that the divestiture was part of its effort to secure regulatory approval for the merger.

 

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