In a deal that combines two recent winners of HousingWire Magazine’s HW Tech100, Optimal Blue announced Tuesday that it is acquiring Comergence Compliance.
Optimal Blue, which operates a digital marketplace for the mortgage industry, was an honoree on the 2017 HW Tech100, while Comergence, a provider of due diligence automation and ongoing surveillance services, made the HW Tech100 in 2016.
Now, the two companies will be merging, with all of Comergence’s employees joining Optimal Blue, the companies said in a release.
“We are thrilled to welcome Comergence to the Optimal Blue family and we are looking forward to extending their network management platform to our customers,” Scott Happ, CEO of Optimal Blue, said in a release. “Comergence solutions help build trust and confidence among marketplace participants by verifying third-party compliance in real-time, a capability unmatched in the industry.”
Happ took over as CEO of Optimal Blue last year, when GTCR, a private equity firm, acquired the company.
At the time of the acquisition, GTCR said it committed up to $350 million of equity capital to the investment, to allow Optimal Blue to further grow its business. And now, Optimal Blue is doing just that.
“Optimal Blue and Comergence are well-aligned around our principal mission of facilitating transactions between buyers and sellers of loans,” Happ added. “We are very pleased that Greg, Michael, and the entire Comergence team will be joining Optimal Blue as we execute our shared growth plans.”
Greg Schroeder, the president of Comergence, said that the deal will allow the company to bring its services to a wider audience.
“We provide the best due diligence and ongoing surveillance services in the industry,” Schroeder said. “We believe that by being part of Optimal Blue we can bring the benefits of our technology and expertise to an even larger segment of the mortgage marketplace.”
