Fiserv Inc. has an agreement to buy its third company in a new line of business for it-processing data for the insurance industry.
Terms of the deal for Freedom Group, which is based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, were not disclosed. Shareholder approval is required.
Fiserv bought the other two firms, Network Data Processing and Specialty Insurance Services, only this year.
Freedom Group was formed in 1986 and employs 280 people. Revenues are running at an annual rate of $30 million, it says.
The company is a subsidiary of Allied Group Inc., which Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. of Columbus, Ohio, bought this year.
The acquisition would be Fiserv's 78th since 1984.
Fiserv, based in Brookfield, Wis., does processing for 7,500 banking companies. It is betting that many of them will use it for their growing insurance businesses, though none have signed up for that service so far.
Buying Freedom "is just another move to take care of our banks," said Les Muma, president and chief operating officer of Fiserv. Insurance processing margins are as good as bank processing margins or better, Mr. Muma added.
