USA Interactive Adding Lending Tree to Portfolio

You can add consumer loans to the services Barry Diller plans to sell over the Internet.

Diller's USA Interactive(USAI Quote) said Monday it agreed to acquire Lending Tree (TREE Quote) for stock worth between $626 million and $734 million, based on an exchange formula.

Lending Tree describes itself as an online lending exchange, acting as a middleman between consumers wanting loans and lenders such as banks and realtors. It claims to have facilitated about $48 billion in loans since its inception in 1996 and recently entered the real estate market.

News of the acquisition lifted Lending Tree's stock 45% to $21.35 on the Instinet premarket, and also boosted shares of E-Loan(EELN Quote), which has a similar product, 14% to $3.75. USA Interactive's stock fell about 1% to $34.62 on Instinet.

For Diller, the acquisition comes on the heels of agreements to buy out the public shareholders of two other majority-owned properties, Hotels.com(ROOM Quote) and Expedia.com(EXPE Quote), and consolidate ownership of Ticketmaster.

"With this transaction, USA now has a presence in seven key areas of interactive commerce that represent approximately 75% of total interactive commerce -- travel, ticketing, goods, personals, local/classified advertising, financial services and real estate," USA Interactive said in a release.

USA doesn't expect any immediate earnings impact from the acquisition, although it predicted Lending Tree's long-term growth with be "consistent with those of USA's fastest growing businesses." The deal must be approved by Lending Tree's shareholders; the company's board has approved it.