NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) May 28, 2013--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its rating on Fidelity National Financial Inc. (FNF; BBB-/Stable/--) is unchanged following the company's announcement that it is acquiring Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) for $2.9 billion. The company expects the acquisition to close in fourth-quarter 2013. We view the acquisition as neutral to FNF's overall credit quality. We believe the benefits of the acquisition to the company's business profile will largely offset risk associated with temporarily elevated leverage. The transaction will enhance FNF's business profile through increased scale, greater revenue diversification, and anticipated synergies. Although the transaction will weaken FNF's key credit protection measures, we expect these to remain consistent with the rating category.
