Fidelity National Financial has signed a definitive agreement to acquire InterCept, a Georgia-based banking systems vendor, in a cash and stock transaction worth about $408 million.
Under the terms of the agreement, Fidelity will pay $18.90 per share of InterCept common stock, considerably more than InterCept's current price of $17.45.
Founded in 1986, InterCept generated $110 million in revenue for the six months ended June 30 2004. It provides both outsourced and in-house banking solutions for 425 community banks. The company also supplies item processing and cheque imaging services for 720 customers.
InterCept is the firm's eighth acquisition in the financial institution technology space in the last 18 months.
FNF says it will also postpone the initial public offering (IPO) of Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) until at least the first quarter of 2005, due to the InterCept purchase and the "relatively weak and unpredictable current equity market conditions".