BKI - Black Knight deal spread wider ahead of FTC closed door meeting on Thursday

The deal spread in Intercontinental Exchange's ( NYSE: ICE ) planned purchase of Black Knight Inc. ( NYSE: BKI ), widened slightly ahead of a Federal Trade Commission closed door meeting scheduled for Thursday. Black Knight fell 1.8%, while ICE rose 0.3%.

Some investors may be speculating that the 1:30pm FTC meeting could potentially be for a vote on Black Knight's ( BKI ) sale to ICE. It's also worth noting that FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan will not be participating. While sometimes these meetings are about public companies, often times they are about private firms.

The FTC closed door meeting was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was rescheduled until Thursday.

Analysts and investors have been skeptical if the deal would pass antitrust regulators since the $13 billion planned acquisition of Black Knight was announced in early May.  ICE in November said it c ertified its compliance with the FTC in regards to Black Knight.

The deal could see antitrust concern as ICE's Ellie Mae's Encompass platform is the largest provider of loan origination software and Black Knight's Empower is the "clear #2,"  Raymond James analyst Patrick O'Shaughnessy wrote in May when the deal was announced.

Late last month Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) urged the FTC to conduct a robust review of the deal. The chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee expressed worried about potential effects of the deal on consumers, including higher prices in the overall housing and mortgage markets.

BofA analyst Craig Siegenthaler, who raised his rating to buy and price target on ICE to $132 from $116 in November, sees a positive scenario for ICE if it decides to abandon the transaction. He expects that BKI would trade around $50/share if the deal falls apart.

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