eFunds Corp. has announced its receipt of antitrust clearance to sell itself to Fidelity National Information Services Inc.
The Scottsdale, Ariz., transaction processor said late Friday that the Federal Trade Commission had approved an early termination of the waiting period required under antitrust law.
eFunds agreed in June to sell itself to Fidelity for $1.8 billion in cash. At the time, it cited the wave of buyouts and spinoffs involving processors such as First Data Corp., which plans to go private this quarter; the credit card company Discover Financial Services LLC, which was spun off in June by the investment bank Morgan Stanley; and the technology vendor Metavante Corp., which is expected to be spun off in December from the Milwaukee banking company Marshall & Ilsley Corp.
Fidelity has said it expects to close the eFunds deal by the end of the third quarter.
