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Justice department extends First Data merger investigation

June 10, 2003

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- U.S. antitrust regulators are expected to extend their investigation later this week into First Data Corporation's bid to buy rival Concord EFS.

According to Reuters, attorneys in the Justice Department are near the end of a preliminary review of the merger of the two payment processing companies, but it is expected they'll want more information for a closer examination of the deal.

The department has until June 12 to determine whether the proposed merger raises concerns warranting further investigation.

At issue is whether combining First Data' s majority interest in the NYCE ATM network with Concord' s rival Star, MAC and Cash Station networks would hurt competition in the electronic transaction market.

The combined companies would control about 70 percent of U.S. debit card transactions verified via PINs and about one-quarter of overall debit transactions.

Concord provides payment services such as credit, check authorization and electronic benefits transfer processing services to retail segments.

First Data, which also owns Western Union, has said the merged company would have annual revenue of $10 billion and 31,000 employees. It believes the deal would make it more competitive with Visa U.S.A. and MasterCard International, which have a stronghold on signature-based payment networks.