ATLANTA – ACI Worldwide said this afternoon it is going hostile with its offer to acquire S1 Corp., after the provider of back office services for credit unions and banks fended off ACI’s latest takeover offer.
ACI said its latest offer will give S1 shareholders the option to receive $10 per share in cash or 0.2800 ACI common shares for each S1 share, sending SI shares up in afternoon trading to $9.14.
The offer is ACI's latest attempt to acquire S1 and convince S1 shareholders to vote against a proposal to instead merge with an Israeli company called Fundtech. In June, S1 announced plans to buy Fundtech for about $320 million in stock.
"While it remains our strong preference to enter into a negotiated transaction with S1, we believe taking our premium cash and stock offer directly to S1's shareholders is the best way to advance this compelling combination," said Philip Heasley, CEO of ACI.
Earlier this month, S1 rejected a previous offer from ACI of about $540 million -- or $9.50 per share -- in cash and stock, saying the deal wasn't in the best interests of shareholders. A drop in ACI's shares since then has reduced the value of that original proposal, prompting ACI last week to increase the cash portion of the offer to bring the total price to $10 per share.
