Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z) has announced that it will acquire mortgage services company Mortech to expand its offerings in the mortgage segment of its business.
The company announced Monday it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Mortech, Inc., a Lincoln, Nebraska-based mortgage technology company, for $12 million in cash and 150,000 shares of restricted stock.
The acquisition boosts Zillow’s growing Mortgage Marketplace, a segment of its online services where borrowers can connect with lenders to get personalized loan options and real-time mortgage rates.
Currently, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace caters to 1 million loan requests from borrowers per month and receives, on average, 25 customized quotes which can be compared alongside more than 22,000 lender reviews, according to the statement issued by Zillow.
“We are following our proven strategy of building home-related marketplaces,” said Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff.
“In the case of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, we first innovated on behalf of consumers by creating a transparent marketplace where borrowers’ needs come first, then we connected borrowers with lenders, and now we are investing in tools to help lenders be even more successful serving consumers.”
Zillow’s acquisition of Mortech aims to establish a product and pricing engine to help lenders quickly match the right mortgage products fitted to borrowers’ needs across multiple channels both online and offline, according to a statement.
“At Mortech, we are focused on helping mortgage professionals do a better job at closing deals through a variety of best-in-class productivity tools,” said Don Kraci, president of Mortech.
“We’re thrilled to join the Zillow team, which has demonstrated a deep commitment to empowering both consumers and professionals in the mortgage industry through their innovative mortgage marketplace. Becoming a part of Zillow will enable us to broaden the reach of our product and deliver even better technology solutions to lenders.”
The acquisition is the fifth by Zillow in two years, and its first in the mortgage sector.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Written by Jason Oliva
