Acquistion Of Harland Shrinks Check Printers
ATLANTA-In a deal that will shrink the number of check printers again, shareholders of John H. Harland Co. approved the takeover by M&F Worldwide, the company controlled by corporate raider Ron Perelman, which bought Clarke American check printers in 2005. The deal, for $52.75 a share, or a total of $1.7 billion, will eliminate yet another competitor from the market, following Harland's 2005 acquisition of Liberty, and have the combined Harland/Clarke American operations exceed Deluxe Corp. as the nation's largest check printer.
The combination of the two is still subject to approval by federal regulators.
Telesis Community CU Buys Car Buying Service
CHATSWORTH, Calif.-Telesis Community CU has agreed to acquire Autoland, which provides car-buying services for more than 300 CUs in California, Oregon and Washington. Earlier this year, Telesis acquired sole ownership of AutoSeekers, a used car broker, after buying out its partner, California Bear CU. The newly formed operation will retain the name Autoland, created in 1971 as the first car-buying service for credit unions.
California League Calls CUs To Arms On CRA Bill
MONTEREY, Calif.-The California CU League is marshaling resources to respond to a bill in the State Assembly that would require state-chartered CUs to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) now required of banks. League CEO Bill Cheney, who spoke with Credit Union Journal here as part of the California/Nevada leagues' Big Valley Conference, called AB 1418 a "curve ball" that the league hadn't expected. "We need to defeat it and we will defeat this bill," said Cheney. "It seeks to force credit unions to comply with a law that was created to punish banks for redlining. Credit unions have never been accused of redlining. It's a bad bill and it would make a bad law."
