Technology
solutions provider Fiserv, Inc, will acquire leading provider of online banking,
electronic payments and infrastructure services, CheckFree Corporation, in an
all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4.4 billion. Under
terms of the agreement, CheckFree shareholders will receive $48.00 in cash for
each share of common stock. CheckFree
and Fiserv have complementary technology, services and business models and Fiserv
anticipates the combined organisation to deliver a wider range of product and
service offerings for customers, as well as provide opportunities for improved
growth and enhanced efficiency, including the ability to bring new solutions to
market faster.Fiserv
currently serves almost 6,000 core processing clients and all top 100 banks in
the US CheckFree''s Electronic Commerce business serves 21 of the top 25 financial
institutions in the U.S. and processes more than 1 billion transactions per year.
"CheckFree''s
industry-leading payment and Internet banking capabilities will significantly
accelerate our strategic transformation, extending our service platform to the
largest financial institutions," said Jeffery Yabuki, president and chief
executive officer of Fiserv. "This combination allows us to deliver the best
available solutions to all of our clients to enhance growth today, and into the
future. An important objective of the transaction is to tightly integrate electronic
bill payment and settlement capabilities with our core account processing and
risk management solutions to create a unique value proposition unrivaled in the
marketplace today." "By
joining our complementary technology and capabilities with Fiserv and its unparalleled
footprint, this new combined entity will broaden Fiserv''s offerings to customers
worldwide," said Pete Kight, CheckFree''s chairman and chief executive officer.
"In particular,
it will significantly accelerate the delivery of next-generation services to financial
institutions and their customers. CheckFree''s broad range of offerings will also
enable Fiserv to round out its ability to deliver solutions that address the challenges
of an evolving US payments landscape and help facilitate the growth of the managed
accounts industry." In
conjunction with the closing of the transaction, Kight will be employed by Fiserv
and appointed to its board of directors. "Pete''s
demonstrated results in building one of the world''s leading payment and transaction
processing companies are a testament to his energy, vision and strategic leadership,"
said Donald F Dillon, Fiserv chairman. "We will be thrilled to have him on
our board." Fiserv
expects to realize more than $100 million in annualized cost savings and more
than $125 million in annualized revenue synergies. For 2008, the transaction is
expected to be accretive to Fiserv''s underlying cash earnings per share. The
transaction is expected to be completed by December 31, 2007, subject to regulatory
approvals, approval by the CheckFree shareholders and customary closing conditions.
After closing, the combined company will have pro-forma revenue of about $6 billion,
employ more than 27,000 associates world-wide and be the leading provider of technology
processing solutions to banks and financial institutions. "We
are impressed by the people of CheckFree. Their cultural commitment to clients
is consistent
with how we do business and this combination will create significant growth opportunities
for all of our people," said Yabuki.
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