FTC Seeks To Block Intercontinental Exchange's $11.7 Billion Black Knight Deal

The Federal Trade Commission has voted to sue to block Intercontinental Exchange from completing its $11.7 billion acquisition of mortgage software provider Black Knight. From a report: The antitrust agency said the deal would lead to higher prices for software that lenders use to generate mortgages. Higher prices would be passed on to home buyers, the FTC said. The FTC's lawsuit, filed in its administrative court, is a setback for Intercontinental Exchange's efforts to become a big player in the technical infrastructure behind home loans. Best known as the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, the company has increasingly pushed to digitize the mortgage business and made a series of deals to expand its role in home-loan finance. Intercontinental Exchange -- known as ICE for short -- said it strongly disagreed with the FTC's decision. "ICE is fully confident in our position and look forward to presenting it in court," the company said in a statement. ICE and Black Knight currently compete to offer loan-origination systems -- used by lenders to initiate mortgage loans. Earlier this week, ICE said it had agreed to divest Black Knight's loan-origination system business to address any concerns about the deal hurting competition. The divestment would reduce the price tag of ICE's acquisition of Black Knight to $11.7 billion, from the original $13.1 billion when the deal was unveiled in May of last year. The FTC said it didn't believe that selling off Black Knight's product would fix the competitive harm caused by combining the two largest mortgage-loan technology providers. The agency also claimed the deal would undermine competition for another service that ICE and Black Knight provide that helps lenders get the best interest rates for home buyers.

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