Fidelity National Keeps On Buying : Acquisition: Irvine title insurance company agrees to purchase a unit of New York’s Helmsley Enterprises Inc.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., an Irvine title insurance company, said Monday that it has agreed to buy a title insurance unit of New York’s Helmsley Enterprises Inc., owned by hotel queen Leona Helmsley and her husband, Harry.

Fidelity, based in Irvine, has been in a buying mood and apparently can afford it. The company’s revenue for the first nine months of 1992 jumped 64%, to $261 million, lifted by a wave of people refinancing their homes to take advantage of low-interest rates. The latest purchase is Fidelity’s third-largest this year.

The price for Security Title and Guaranty Co. is $21 million in cash. Part of the deal is a separate payment to Helmsley Enterprises of a onetime, $4.5-million dividend consisting of second mortgages and other Security Title assets that Fidelity says it doesn’t want.

The transaction is scheduled to close by mid-March, pending approval by New York state insurance regulators.

Fidelity, which operates in 48 states, says the acquisition of Security’s 11 East Coast offices will further broaden its market.

Fidelity said Helmsley Enterprises sold the unit because it is primarily a real estate company and the title insurance business didn’t fit.

Leona Helmsley, whose Helmsley Enterprises owns part of the Helmsley Palace and other posh hotels in New York City, was convicted of tax fraud in 1989.

Title insurance companies insure buyers of property against claims to their titles.