SANTA ANA, Calif. ^__ In May of 1997 First American purchased Strategic Mortgage Services, Inc., (SMS), a leading provider of real estate information services to the mortgage and title industries. With the acquisition, which excluded SMS' flood certification business, came more than 800 employees and an $85 million revenue base.

     SMS' strategy was similar to ours, offering a variety of related services through a single source. We are now integrating those services with First American's business lines. By merging our operations, we have been able to increase our national reach and create great economies of scale. The credit division of SMS was the nation's third largest provider prior to the acquisition. Merged with First American's CREDCO, our credit services now hold more than 35 percent of that market ^__ far more than our next three closest competitors combined. We have also joined together SMS' appraisal group, the nation's second largest appraisal services provider, with First American's appraisal operations. We absorbed the settlement services business of SMS, and have transformed this into First American Title's primary technology company. First American also entered an entirely new field as we integrated SMS' mortgage document preparation company, the largest firm in this business.

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