Fidelity National Buying Metavante For $2.94B

STEPHEN BERNARD

NEW YORK (AP) — Fidelity National Information Services Inc. said Wednesday it will acquire Metavante Technologies Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at about $2.94 billion.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National, which is unrelated to Boston-based Fidelity Investments, provides transaction processing, card issuer and outsourcing services for more than 14,000 financial institutions. Milwaukee-based Metavante provides banking and payments technologies for about 8,000 financial firms. Metavante was a unit of Marshall & Ilsley Corp. until 2007 when it was spun off as a separate public company.

The two companies combined to generate $5.2 billion in revenue in 2008. Fidelity National said it expects to achieve cost synergies of about $260 million after the acquisition is completed. The deal, which is expected to close during the third quarter, should boost Fidelity National's earnings in 2010.

The new executive team will include employees from both companies. Lee Kennedy, Fidelity National's current president and chief executive, will become executive vice chairman with the responsibility of overseeing the integration of Metavante. Metavante's current chairman and CEO, Frank Martire, will be named president and CEO of Fidelity National. Gary Norcross will continue to serve as chief operating officer after the deal closes, while Michael Hayford will become chief financial officer. Hayford is currently the president and COO at Metavante.