The payments technology vendor ACI Worldwide Inc. said Tuesday it submitted a bid to buy rival S1 Corp. for $540 million, aiming to thwart a separate deal S1 announced last month to merge with Fundtech Ltd.
ACI would pay $9.50 for all of S1's outstanding shares, a 33% premium over S1's closing price on Monday. If the deal was completed, S1 shareholders would own about 15% of the combined company and ACI shareholders would own the rest.
"We believe that our premium stock and cash proposal is both financially and strategically superior to your proposed transaction with Fundtech," Philip Heasley, the president and chief executive of New York-based ACI, wrote in a letter to S1's board.
ACI and S1 have "complementary products," and their combination would create about $100 million in revenue, Heasley wrote.
S1, of Atlanta, in June announced a deal to merge its operations with Fundtech Ltd. of Jersey City, N.J., in a $700 million transaction.
Under the deal, Fundtech shareholders will receive 2.72 shares of S1 common stock for each Fundtech share they own. The merger, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval and not expected to close until the fourth quarter, would result in the combined company operating under the Fundtech name with its headquarters in Atlanta, where S1 is based. Clal Industries and Investments Ltd., an Israeli investment firm that owns 58% of Fundtech, has agreed with S1 to vote in favor of the merger.
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