(San Diego Business Journal Staff) – LandAmerica Financial Group, the nation’s third largest title insurer, filed for bankruptcy late last month, but said it hopes to sell its two principal units, Lawyers Title and Commonwealth Land Title Insurance, to Fidelity National Title Insurance by Dec. 31.LandAmerica and Fidelity National signed a stock purchase agreement Nov. 26, under which Fidelity would pay LandAmerica $298 million for the businesses.

The units, which supply title insurance when homes and other properties are sold as well as related escrow services, have suffered from the mortgage meltdown along with the rest of the residential real estate industry.

Lloyd Osgood, spokesman for Richmond, Va.-based LandAmerica, said the pending sale represents 90 percent of its business.

“Clearly the bulk of our business is going to Fidelity,” said Osgood.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity is the holding company of a number of well-known title companies, including Chicago Title and Fidelity National Title.

“Fidelity intends to have our underwriters run separately, like they do with Chicago and Fidelity National Title,” said Osgood. He said Fidelity intends to continue to operate the two LandAmerica units under their own nameplates.

“But it is too early to say what is going to happen location by location,” he said.

He would not say if Fidelity plans to close local offices.

Four Of The Top 10

LandAmerica’s title company units have a significant market share in San Diego. Four of the subsidiaries ranked in the top 10 of the San Diego Business Journal’s Title Companies list in 2007, which ranked 20 companies by the dollar value of mortgage transactions for the 12 months ending September 2007.

The largest, Southland Title, came in No. 4 on the list with 14,971 local transactions. The second largest, Commonwealth Land Title, at No. 5 on the list, had 11,712 local transactions. The third largest unit, Lawyers Title, No. 6 on the list, reported 7,958 transactions. United Title, No. 10 on the list, reported 5,056 transactions.

Because of the shake-up in the industry, the Business Journal did not survey title companies this year.