Stewart Fortifies Foothold in Capital Markets Space with Allonhill Buy

""Stewart Lender Services"":http://www.stewartlenderservices.com (SLS) announced Tuesday that it has acquired key assets of the due diligence and credit risk management firm ""Allonhill"":http://www.allonhill.com.

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Jason Nadeau, president and CEO of SLS, says Stewart will retain all Allonhill personnel as well as Allonhill's headquarter facility in Denver. Stewart also adds technology developed by Allonhill to its suite of products, including a due diligence platform customizable based on individual clients' needs and portfolio characteristics. The system offers loan-level drill-down capabilities, enables filtering by loan characteristics, and accommodates ad-hoc adjustments of review requirements.

Nadeau describes Stewart's acquisition of Allonhill's people, technology, and leadership as ""fantastic."" He said, ""With loan quality and compliance being in the forefront of industry concerns, we couldn't be more excited to have some of the most well-known and experienced staff in the industry joining our operations.""

Nadeau added, ""Through a combination of the staff, industry-leading technology, and Stewart's resources, this transaction brings us tremendous strength at a time when this segment of the market is re-emerging.""

Sue Allon, founder and CEO of Allonhill, is taking on the role of vice chairman at Stewart. She will lead Stewart’s capital markets business line, including due diligence and oversight services. Allon explained that her new role is one of thought leadership and product and market development.

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“I am excited to be able to say I’m Stewart now,” Allon said. “In our space, capacity is everything. We’ve got the expertise and to be able to come to our client base with capacity now behind us means everything.” Allon stresses that the company she launched in 2008 and Stewart are a natural fit, largely because the two organizations share common values and integrity.

Nadeau concurs. ""We share a commitment to growth and vision of bringing this industry a solution to risk management in the form of excellence in diligence and oversight,"" Nadeau said. He says Allonhill had the talent and people that really matched up with the Stewart family. ""At Stewart, it's really important for us to maintain our integrity and our brand.""

Both Nadeau and Allon echo the same sentiment about the other's organization: One that is ""committed to 'doing things right.'""

For Stewart, the acquisition strengthens the company’s three-prong approach to serving clients’ and the market’s needs, Nadeau says. SLS’ three pillars, he explained, include origination support, component servicing, and now due diligence and capital markets. Across the industry, the biggest concerns revolve around compliance, and “adding Allonhill to the suite takes our component servicing and servicing support to the next level. It opens up a whole new group of potential clients; it’s a separate and extremely strong business line for us,” Nadeau said.

He added that the company continues to diversify outside of the title industry by growing its services. “Investors have been relying on Stewart for 120 years,” Nadeau said. “We’ve done due diligence for the title business since our beginning, and now we’re looking to translate that same consistency and quality to compliance for mortgage servicers and investors.”

According to Nadeau, the company’s capital markets business is ready to get to work “right out of the gate.” Allon and her team have already been very active working alongside servicing shops to advise them on audits and reviews.