STRATEGIC PARTNERS
December 17, 2001
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Continuing its strategy of aggressive acquisition, Concord EFS (NASDAQ: CEFT) will acquire The Logix Companies, LLC, a transaction processor and service provider based in Longmont, Colo.
A private limited liability company, Logix provides financial institutions, retailers and independent sales organizations (ISOs) with ATM processing, electronic check conversion, identification and authentication services, data base development and reporting, and merchant processing services.
Logix in May acquired RBSA, a company that specialized in ISO ATM processing.
Concord, which acquired both Chicago's Cash Station in 2000 and Maitland, Fla.-based Star Systems earlier this year, is converting ATMs and POS terminals in its network to the Star brand name, a process expected to take up to three years. Concord drives 195,000 ATMs and 800,000 POS terminals in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
"Logix technology will supply new features to Concord's ATM processing, check conversion, and risk management services, while also adding new products, such as marketing data base services, that Concord can offer through its direct sales and independent sales organization channels," said Edward A. Labry III, Concord president. "We believe that the combination of Concord's strong front-end processing and efficient infrastructure with Logix's feature-rich technology and complementary new services will create a compelling offering for financial institutions, retail ATM deployers, independent sales organizations and retailers."
Logix payment products -- check conversion, identification and authentication, and payment processing -- are designed for the Hypercom ICE terminal, which is also the platform for Concord's proprietary STAR Universal Terminal. Logix currently outsources its payment processing services to third party payment processors.
"Concord's product lines and client industries are an excellent fit with the key products that we've developed and refined," said Tony Sdao, Logix president. "Logix products are well-suited for the convenience store, supermarket and ISO markets that Concord specializes in. And we expect that Concord's telecommunications connections, gateway connections, in-house bank and payment processing platform will create many opportunities to reduce operating costs."
The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2002. Company executives said that they expect the transaction to be neutral to earnings in 2002 and accretive to earnings per share in future years. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
