Fiserv to buy online banking firm for $4.4 billion

Brookfield, Wis. - Fiserv, Inc. and CheckFree Corp. have announced a definitive agreement in which Fiserv will acquire the online banking firm in an all-cash transaction worth $4.4 billion.

The sale merges Fiserv, which provides information management services to the financial and insurance industries, with a provider of financial e-commerce services in electronic billing and payment, online banking, and investment management technology.

Fiserv, which serves almost 6,000 core processing clients and all of the top 100 banks in the United States, expects the combined organization to deliver a wider range of product and service offerings. CheckFree's e-commerce business serves 21 of the top 25 financial institutions in the U.S., and processes more than one billion transactions annually.

Jeffery Yabuki, president and chief executive officer of Fiserv, said the transaction will allow Fiserv to integrate CheckFree's electronic bill payment and settlement capabilities with its account processing and risk management products.

Fiserv also expects to achieve more than $100 million in annual cost savings, impacting its 2008 earnings per share. During the second quarter of 2007, Fiserv reported earnings per share of $0.64 on revenues of $1.2 billion. For fiscal year 2007, CheckFree is expected to report between $970 million to $973 million in annual revenue, and GAAP earnings per share in the range of $1.35 and $1.37.

Under terms of the agreement, CheckFree shareholders will receive $48 in cash for each share of common stock.

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