Financial technology vendor S1 Corp.’s board of directors has rebuffed an unsolicited acquisition bid from rival ACI Worldwide Inc., signaling its commitment to an existing agreement it has to buy another competitor.
“The S1 board gave careful consideration to each of the proposed terms and conditions of ACI’s proposal,” John Spiegel, S1’s chairman, said in a press release on Tuesday. “In the end, the board determined that ACI’s proposal is not in the best interests of S1 and its stockholders.”
ACI, a New York vendor that provides payments processing software to large banks and retailers, last week offered to buy S1 for $540 million in an effort to thwart S1’s previously announced deal to merge its operations with Fundtech, a Jersey City, N.J., vendor, in a stock-for-stock exchange valued at $700 million.
ACI argued its proposal was superior to an S1-Fundtech marriage because of the international growth prospects and cross-sell opportunities it would provide the respective companies.
But S1 believes “that continuing to execute on our long-term business plan, which includes our business combination with Fundtech, will best help us maximize stockholder value and achieve our strategic goals,” Spiegel said.
S1 on Monday reported net income for the second quarter of $1.5 million, or 3 cents per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $1.8 million, or 3 cents per diluted share, a year earlier.
The Norcross, Ga., company posted a 22.3% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue, which reached $63.3 million on higher software licensing, support and maintenance, professional services and hosting sales.
S1’s shares fell as much as 1.5% in pre-market trading on Tuesday to $9.20. Meanwhile, Fundtech’s shares rose as much as 1.4% to $18.98.
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