Sterling Commerce, a Columbus, Ohio, company that handles electronic data integration for large companies, said Friday that it had spun off a division that sells check image and e-payments software specifically to banks.
The deal, which closed last Thursday, created a stand-alone company named VECTORsgi that is majority-backed by the Chicago venture firm Thoma Cressey Equity Partners.
SBC Communications, the telecommunications company that owns Sterling Commerce, has a minority stake in the new firm. It is named for its line of software products (Vector) and the acronym for "solutions group incorporated."
VECTORsgi, of Addison, Tex., was founded as Directions Inc. and bought by Sterling in 1983. Sterling said that the Vector product line - which includes software for image exchange, dispute resolution, and fraud control, among other things - no longer seemed relevant to its core businesses of data integration and networking.
"The banking systems division was very successful, but it was not a good strategic fit for Sterling," said Sterling spokesman Doug McGraw.
Sydney Smith Hicks, who had been the vice president of operations and business divisions at Sterling's banking systems division, has been named chief executive officer of the new firm. She said the infusion of capital from Thoma Cressey will help VECTORsgi develop check truncation software, which is its top priority now that the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act has passed.
Independence from Sterling will help VECTORsgi bring products to market faster, Ms. Smith Hicks said. "This change in ownership will be invisible to our clients," she said. The company's management team will remain the same, but Thoma Cressey will name a new board of directors.
