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The board of the payments technology vendor Fundtech plans to halt its intended merger with S1 after receiving a separate offer from the private equity firm GTCR.
September 15
S1 Corp. confirmed Friday that its planned merger with Fundtech Ltd. has been terminated. But S1's board still does not want the company to be bought by ACI Worldwide Inc., which has made repeated hostile bids for S1 in recent weeks.
S1, of Norcross, Ga., said it has received a $11.9 million termination fee from Fundtech. Fundtech's board said Thursday that it changed its mind about the merger after receiving a superior offer from the private-equity firm GTCR. Fundtech said GTCR would fund this fee.
The deal between S1 and Fundtech was valued at $700 million in June when it was announced and Fundtech shareholders would have received 2.72 shares of S1 common stock for each Fundtech share. S1's chief executive, Johann Dreyer was slated to become the CEO of the combine company. S1's board had previously touted the deal to shareholders as a way to get ahead of its competitors for payments software.
S1's board once again urged stockholders to reject an unsolicited acquisition bid from ACI. S1's board had "serious, unaddressed concerns regarding the ACI exchange offer," S1 said in a press release. These concerns include that ACI's offer is subject to significant conditions, provides uncertain value for the shares of S1 common stock and is not expected to be tax-free to S1 stockholders regarding the receipt of ACI shares, S1 said.
