Metavante Technologies, Inc., a Milwaukee-based developer of online banking and payment technology, is being bought by Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. for an estimated $2.94 billion in stock.
The deal would create the world’s largest provider of integrated payment and financial processing services.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National – no relation to Boston-based Fidelity Investments – provides transaction processing, card issuer and outsourcing services for more than 14,000 financial institutions. Metavante, which was spun off from the Marshall & Ilsley Corp. in 2007, provides services for about 8,000 financial firms.
Fidelity National officials expect to save about $260 million from the acquisition. Company officials said they would issue about 162 million basic shares to Metavante shareholders – with the shareholders getting 1.35 shares of Fidelity stock for every share they own – and add about 16 million new shares through an equity investment by affiliates of Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P., and Fidelity National Financial, Inc.
Last year, Metavante boosted its healthcare payment solution suite of products with the acquisition of San Diego-based BenSoft, Inc., whose RepayMe solution helps third-party administrators, health plans and self-administrating employers develop flexible spending accounts, health reimbursement accounts, health savings accounts and transportation accounts.
"As the healthcare market moves toward more consumer-driven healthcare plans, the marketplace is demanding a single integrated benefit administration solutions for FSAs, HRAs, HSAs, transportation spending accounts and related benefit services," said Frank D'Angelo, president of Metavante Payments Solutions Group, when the deal was announced in January 2008. "The acquisition of a leading Web-based, easy to use and cost-effective flexible benefit system expands Metavante's current consumer-driven healthcare and benefit account processing services and represents our continuing investment in single-source solutions to consumer, provider and payer healthcare payments."