Fiserv Completes Acquisition of CheckFree

Fiserv, Inc., a provider of information technology services to the financial industry, announced the completion of its acquisition of CheckFree Corporation, which offers financial electronic commerce services and products, including electronic bill payment and Internet banking. Under terms of the transaction, Fiserv acquired CheckFree for approximately $4.4 billion in cash, or $48 per share.

"Combining our two companies' broad range of market-leading capabilities will provide a platform to deliver unprecedented innovation in financial services technology," says Jeffery Yabuki, president and CEO of Fiserv. "CheckFree's key strengths will accelerate our Fiserv 2.0 strategies resulting in a client value proposition unrivaled in the market today."

More than 3,000 financial services Web sites use the electronic billing and payment services supplied by CheckFree, and growth will continue as consumers and businesses move from paper to electronic processes. Additionally, CheckFree has an online banking platform for financial institutions, and its investment services platform processes portfolios with assets under management totaling more than $1.8 trillion.

CheckFree's client base of large financial institutions complements Fiserv's base of more than 18,000 clients. The newly combined company has the expertise, solutions, and scale to support financial institutions of any size in a number of areas including core processing, electronic billing, risk management, payments (including cash and logistics, ACH, imaging, online, phone, emergency, and walk-in), and wealth management/managed accounts.

Yabuki will continue to serve as CEO and president of Fiserv, and Donald F. Dillon will continue to serve as chairman of the board. Tom Hirsch will continue as the company's CFO.

Pete Kight, former CEO of CheckFree, will be named vice chairman of Fiserv and will lead new product development and strategic integration. Kight also will join its board of directors. Steve Olsen, former COO of CheckFree, will become Fiserv's group president of Internet banking and electronic payments.