Bankers Trust New York Corp. has joined with a leading provider of health-care processing services to sell cash management and data-processing systems to the health industry.
The agreement with CIS Technologies also calls for the banking company to acquire a minority interest, consisting of $10 million of new common stock and new nonvoting convertible preferred stock with warrants. Bankers Trust will also get a seat on the CIS board.
The alliance between Bankers Trust's Global Institutional Services Group and Tulsa, Okla.-based CIS gives the bank a leg up in a market that has been difficult to penetrate, company officials said.
"It is hard to get into the field when you are completely on the outside, and we think this provides us with access to the industry through bundling our products with CIS," said B.J. Kingdon, managing director and head of the group. "We can provide the expertise in cash management while CIS offers the expertise in claims processing an posting."
The joint effort cans for Bankers Trust to provide cash anagement services to health-care providers while CIS will provide claims processing services, which allows hospitals to format and transmit claims to insurance companies.
"We plan on utilizing each of our companies' strengths and offer a package of services to existing and future customers," Mr. Kingdon said. "We see the health-care industry processing and cash management as a huge area for growth and this alliance gives us a foray into the market place."
"We are pleased to have entered this alliance with Bankers Trust. It will allow us to take advantage of many consolidation and growth opportunities in the health-care sector," said Philip Kurtz, chairman and chief executive officer of CIS Technologies. "The alliance strengthens our financial position and matches us with a partner which will help our company reach its full potential."
Joan Goodman, vice president of research at Pershing division of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in Chicago, said the alliance is a positive agreement for both organizations.
"CIS is the dominant player in its field as a back-office processor and they need to get larger," she said. "The only way for them to do it is to go out and buy smaller firms. This deal will provide the financing for future CIS acquisitions while Bankers Trust will derive income from managing payments on the short term for the hospitals."
Bankers Trust is the seventh-largest banking company in the country. Its Global Institutional Services Group is a leader in cash management and providing performance information to investors and third parties.
Earlier this year, CIS, which processed 24 million hospital claims totaling more than $50 billion last year, entered into a similar agreement with GE Capital. The agreement with the financial services subsidiary of General Electric Co. calls for the companies to provide accounts receivable-financing for the health industry. Although GE provided capital and acquired stock as part of the alliance, it did not obtain a seat on the board.
