Georgia-based Certegy is to acquire substantially all of the assets of publicly traded community banking software house Netzee for $10.4 million in cash.
Atlanta's Netzee is a provider of Internet banking products and e-commerce solutions to approximately 800 community banks and credit unions.
Certegy provides card services to 6000 independent financial institutions and a suite of electronic banking services to community banks. The acquisition of Netzee’s assets, including its customer contracts, provides Certegy with additional e-banking capabilities, including applications for the credit union market.
Larry Towe, Certegy’s chief operating officer, comments: "In today’s highly competitive marketplace, community banks and credit unions must provide their customers the same broad range of financial services as larger national financial institutions."
Certegy generated $936 million in revenue in 2001. The transaction is expected to close by mid-January 2003, and will require Netzee shareholder approval.