Shares in S1 Corp. traded higher when the markets opened this morning as Israel-based Fundtech Ltd. reminded investors that its agreement to merge with S1 Corp. has not been finalized yet and could fall prey to yesterday’s higher offer by ACI Worldwide to acquire S1.
Payments-technology vendor ACI Worldwide Inc. submitted a bid to buy rival S1 Corp. for $540 million, aiming to thwart a separate deal S1 announced last month to merge with Fundtech Ltd., ACI announced July 26 (
Fundtech noted its S1 deal, signed June 26, is subject to several closing conditions, including shareholder and regulatory approvals. “There can be no assurances that the closing conditions will be satisfied,” said the company, which maintains U.S. headquarters in Jersey City.
Fundtech’s merger, in which S1 would have become the controlling entity, was apparently topped yesterday when ACI Worldwide, a provider of payments systems, offered to acquire S1 for $9.50 a share, a 33% premium, for a total of $540 million.
S1 itself issued an ambiguous statement yesterday afternoon about the new ACI bid, saying the company is “bound by the merger agreement with Fundtech, but said it will review the ACI offer “in a manner consistent with its obligations under the merger agreement with Fundtech and applicable Delaware law.”
S1 has long been one of credit unions’ leading vendors and claims to have business with more than 3,000 financial institutions in 75 countries.
