Denver-based MegaBank

Business Report Staff WriterFORT COLLINS — MegaBank Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: MBFC), parent of Denver-based MegaBank, has acquired Empire Title & Escrow Corp. through a stock and cash transaction.
The deal has had no effect on Empire Title’s management team or employees, officials from both parties reported. The newly acquired company, which has four Denver-area locations as well as an office in Fort Collins at 1075 W. Horsetooth Road, will function as a wholly owned subsidiary of MegaBank.
“We are extremely excited about the opportunities this presents to both our companies and our customers,´ said Jim Cimino, president of Empire Title, in a prepared statement. “This partnership will provide Empire the resources necessary to accelerate our expansion plans while continuing to provide services to the Colorado real estate community.”
MegaBank was founded in 1983 by the institution’s current chairman and CEO, Tom Kowalski. An initial public offering for its holding company, MegaBank Financial, was filed in November 1998. The bank has since grown to approximately $270 million in assets, with nine locations in the Denver area.
Founded in 1991, Empire Title has 60 employees and represents three national underwriters: United General Title Insurance Co., First American Title Insurance Co. and Lawyers Title Insurance Co.
“Empire Title operates as a separate company, and it just broadens the scope of financial services we can offer our customers,´ said MegaBank president Larry Olsen. As a title services and escrow provider, Empire Title’s customers are primarily real estate firms and home builders, making their business a logical addition to MegaBank, Olsen added.
He asserted: “Residential construction loans have long been our specialty.”
Empire Title is not the only title insurance firm that has been involved in a merger of late.
“Mergers and acquisitions in the title-insurance industry have become common,” reported Loretta Worters, director of communications for the Insurance Information Institute in New York. “In the early 1980s, there were over 200 competing title-insurance firms nationally. Today, there are only 75.”
She added: “The title-insurance premium volume has grown dramatically over the past few years. 1997 saw a 333 percent increase in the purchasing of title insurance over 1996. This surge in insurance is due to an increase in home ownership, continued low insurance rates and the changing legal climate.”

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