Stewart Launches Private Placement of $60 Million Convertible Senior Notes

HOUSTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, Stewart Information Services
Corporation (NYSE: STC) announced its intention to offer, subject to market
and other conditions, $60 million aggregate principal amount of Convertible
Senior Notes due 2014 (the "Notes") in a private placement to qualified
institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933,
as amended (the "Securities Act").

The Notes will be guaranteed by Stewart's wholly-owned subsidiary, Stewart
Title Company , and certain of its wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries. The
Notes will be senior unsecured obligations of Stewart and will rank senior in
right of payment with all existing and future indebtedness of Stewart that is
expressly subordinated in right of payment to the Notes.

Stewart intends to use the net proceeds from the offering and existing cash on
hand to pay down an aggregate amount of $60.5 million of outstanding unsecured
callable bank debt, which results in an extension of our debt maturities.

The Notes, the subsidiary guarantees and the underlying shares of common stock
that may be delivered upon conversion of the Notes have not been registered
under the Securities Act or any state securities laws, and, unless so
registered, may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to
an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and
applicable state laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to
sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy any of these securities, nor
shall it constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in
which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful.

Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE-STC) is a customer-driven,
technology-enabled, strategically competitive real estate information, title
insurance and transaction management company. Stewart provides title insurance
and related information services required for settlement by the real estate
and mortgage industries throughout the United States and in international
markets. Stewart also provides post-closing lender services, automated county
clerk land records, property ownership mapping, geographic information
systems, property information reports, flood certificates, document
preparation, background checks and expertise in tax-deferred exchanges. More
information can be found at www.stewart.com.

Forward-looking statements. Certain statements in this news release are
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relate to
future, not past, events and often address our expected future business and
financial performance. These statements often contain words such as "expect,"
"anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "will" or other similar
words. Forward-looking statements by their nature are subject to various risks
and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to be materially
different than those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks
and uncertainties include, among other things, the severity and duration of
current financial and economic conditions, continued weakness or further
adverse changes in the level of real estate activity, our ability to respond
to and implement technology changes, including the completion of the
implementation of our enterprise systems, including the implementation of our
enterprise systems the impact of unanticipated title losses on the need to
further strengthen our policy loss reserves, any effect of title losses on our
cash flows and financial condition, the impact of our increased diligence and
inspections in our agency operations, the impact of changes in governmental
and insurance regulations, our dependence on our operating subsidiaries as a
source of cash flow, the continued realization of expected expense savings
resulting from our expense reduction steps taken in 2008, our ability to
access the equity and debt financing markets, our ability to grow our
international operations, and our ability to respond to the actions of our
competitors. These risks and uncertainties, as well as others, are discussed
in more detail in our documents filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2008 and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. We expressly disclaim
any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this news
release to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date
hereof, except as may be required by applicable law.

SOURCE Stewart Information Services Corporation

Ted C. Jones, Director-Investor Relations of Stewart Information Services
Corporation, +1-713-625-8014, ted@stewart.com