While Fidelity National Information Services initiated formal merger talks with Metavante Technologies Inc., Metavante’s chairman and CEO actually started the conversation by informally contacting Fidelity National’s top executive.
That’s a different perspective on the genesis of the deal than the way it was portrayed April 1, the day both companies disclosed the transaction.
At the time, Don Layden, senior executive vice president of Brown Deer-based Metavante (NYSE: MV), said Metavante executives weren’t looking to sell, but were open to discussing the possibility when Fidelity National approached them about nine months earlier. However, in an interview last week with the Jacksonville (Fla.) Business Journal, Metavante chairman and CEO Frank Martire said he began the conversation with Lee Kennedy, president and CEO of Jacksonville-based Fidelity National.
“I gave Lee a call one day and said it would be interesting to see if there is some synergy” between the two companies, Martire said.
Metavante has agreed to a $3 billion acquisition by Fidelity National (NYSE: FIS) in a deal that is expected to result in the loss of hundreds of jobs as the companies look to cut $260 million in annual costs. Job cuts will be announced within the next two months, Metavante executives said. The company has about 2,700 employees in metro Milwaukee.
Martire told the Jacksonville Business Journal he always admired Fidelity National Information Services as one of his closest competitors. By the end of the year, Martire will move to Jacksonville to run the company from its Jacksonville headquarters. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
Metavante spokesman Chip Swearngen said Tuesday that the difference between the Martire and Layden statements is that Martire was discussing an informal initial exploratory contact with Fidelity National and Layden referenced the official contact by Fidelity National that led to the deal.
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