Headlines:
Chief Exec Raises His Bid for iPayment Credit Union to Use PassMark Software Jack Henry Acquires A Software Vendor
Chief Exec Raises His Bid for iPayment
iPayment Inc. chief executive Gregory S. Daily has increased his offer to buy its outstanding stock, again, and said his new bid - $43.50 a share, or roughly $739.5 million - is his final one.
The Nashville processor of credit and debit card transactions for small and midsize merchants said last week that a special committee has authorized Mr. Daily to begin negotiations with certain shareholders, including members of the management team.
In May, Mr. Daily offered $38 a share in cash, but iPayment's board rejected his offer in July and said it intended to explore other options, including the possibility of remaining independent. He later withdrew the offer but made another cash bid - this time for $43 a share - on Nov. 1.
The latest offer, announced Friday, would be a 10.3% premium over iPayment's closing price of $39.43 a share Thursday.
The committee, which was formed in response to his first bid, has been exploring alternatives "with the goal of enhancing stockholder value," the company said in a press release.
iPayment's shares rose 1.9% Friday and another 0.32% Monday morning, to $40.29.
Credit Union to Use PassMark Software
Technology Credit Union of San Jose is installing authentication software from the Mountain View, Calif., Internet security vendor PassMark Security Inc.
PassMark announced last week that the credit union is using the latest version of the software and expects to offer it to its 62,000 online banking customers today.
The software installs a file on a user's computer so a bank's online banking systems can recognize it later when people attempt to log in. The software also presents customers with a customized image and phrases when they log in, which verifies that a bank's Web site is real, rather than an impostor site built by a criminal.
The most recent version can also monitor online transactions to determine which ones might require additional authentication steps.
Technology Credit Union is PassMark's fourth customer. The largest is Bank of America Corp., of Charlotte, which is rolling out the software to all of its more than 13 million online banking customers, and has said it will make the service mandatory.
The others are Stanford Federal Credit Union of Palo Alto, and the brokerage company Scottrade Inc. of St. Louis.
Technology Credit Union has used fingerprint scanners for customer authentication at teller stations since 2003.
Jack Henry Acquires A Software Vendor
Jack Henry & Associates Inc. of Monett, Mo., has purchased the Omaha financial management software provider Profitstar Inc.
The purchase was announced last week. Jack Henry did not say how much it paid.
The two companies had been working together since January, when Jack Henry bought RPM Intelligence LLC, a Minneapolis software vendor that had a marketing relationship with Profitstar.
Jack Henry has purchased more than 10 companies since early last year as part of a strategic shift. In the past it focused on selling services only to to its core processing customers, but now it is pursuing deals to expand its lineup of products and services that is it can offer to any customer, whether or not they use its core processing software.
Tony Wormington, Jack Henry's president, said in a press release that the purchase was made to support "Jack Henry's focused diversification strategy."
Profitstar has more than 2,000 customers in the United States and abroad.
