Financial Technology Shares Rise In Step with Investors' Confidence

Bank technology stocks rose smartly last week, as investors looked for the economy to continue to heat up this summer.

Though a brief equities rally early in the week was followed by a broad selloff - triggered mainly by weak bond prices - most publicly held financial systems firms held onto to the gains.

General Motors Corp. said Friday it and two of its pension plans agreed to offer 37 million shares of GM Class E common stock tied to performance of its Electronic Data Systems Corp. unit.

GM said it will price the stock at $42.375 a share.

The plans are each represented by independent trustees U.S. Trust Co. of New York and Bankers Trust New York Corp.

Shares will be offered to investors through a group of underwriters led by Merrill Lynch & Co., Goldman, Sachs & Co., Lehman Brothers Inc., CS First Boston Corp., Morgan Stanley & Co., and Salomon Brothers Inc.

GM Class E stock closed at $42.125 a share Friday, down $2.25 for the week.

Community bank software developer Jack Henry & Associates announced last week that it has signed a letter of intent to purchase the Sector business unit of the defunct Nationar trust company, which was based in New York.

Sector, located in Danbury, Conn., also markets software to small banks.

The unit has an installed base of approximately 34 customers concentrated in the state of New York.

The cash transaction is expected to be closed within the next few weeks, officials at Monett, Mo.-based Jack Henry said.

Jack Henry's common stock closed Friday at $13.125, up 62.5 cents for the week.

Little Rock Ark.-based Alltel Corp. announced Thursday that it had signed a letter of commitment to spend $40 million for a 20% equity investment in Go Communications Corp., a firm that intends to bid in the Federal Communications Commission's auction for personal communications service licenses.

In a related move, Alltel officials said they had been selected to provide software development and management of Go Communications information systems under a 10-year agreement.

As part of the pact, Alltel will provide Go Communications with its Virtuoso customer accounting software and will develop a companywide operational support system.

Alltel officials said the proposed $40 million investment allows the company to take a position in the nascent personal communications services market without diluting its earnings.

Alltel's common stock closed at $25 a share Friday, up 50 cents for the week.

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