CoreLogic Acquires Catastrophe Modeling Firm Eqecat

CoreLogic, an Irivine, Calif. company that provides the insurance, financial services and real estate industries with data and analytics, has acquired catastrophe modeling firm Eqecat from ABS Group.

Alyson Austin, CoreLogic spokesperson, said the transaction closed on Dec. 20. The company is not providing more information at this time but will do so as part of its fourth quarter and full year 2013 financial results to be released in early 2014, according to Austin.

The Eqecat transaction continues CoreLogic’s expansion in the insurance and property data and analytics space.

In July, CoreLogic Inc. agreed to buy three real estate data companies from TPG Capital’s Decision Insight Information Group for $661 million. CoreLogic acquired Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, DataQuick Information Systems and the credit and flood-services unit of DataQuick Lender Solutions, the Irvine, California-based company.

A year ago, CoreLogic acquired CDS Business Mapping LLC in Middletown, Conn., which offers RiskMeter reports that identify property-specific geographic hazards including distance to coast, flood zones, rating territories, proximity to brush, wind pool eligibility and earthquake information. The transaction closed on Dec. 14, 2012 and the purchase consideration was $78 million. CoreLogic used cash on hand to fund the purchase.

In April, CoreLogic added the Case-Shiller home-price indexes to its real estate data for $6 million. The indexes are a widely used measure of U.S. property values.

Nine months ago Eqecat’s parent, the Texas-based ABS Group, appointed Paul Little as president of Eqecat. Little replaced Bill Keogh who resigned from the company to join reinsurance broking and risk/capital management firm TigerRisk Partners.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ABS Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of ABS, a marine and offshore classification society, founded in 1862.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Catastrophe