Bisys Sale Hits Snags

NEW YORK – Efforts to sell the troubled Bisys Group have apparently been held up with plans to sell the company as a whole failing to bear fruit, and top managers resisting proposals to sell the company in pieces. After going through several setbacks last year, management of Bisys Group hired an investment bank to sell the company. Solicitations for bids went out last fall, when the company made it clear it wanted bids for the entire firm. Bisys, which provides back-office securities and insurance services for hundreds of banks and credit unions, reported a 36% decline in net income for its fiscal second quarter ended December 31, mostly as a result of its ongoing securities litigation. In October, Bisys agreed to pay shareholders $66 million to settle civil fraud claims over the misstatement of earnings, and in September the company agreed to pay $21 to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle fraud charges that it made illegal kickbacks to brokers that were recommending its mutual funds to customers.