Fidelity National buying Metavante for $2.94B

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By STEPHEN BERNARD

NEW YORK (AP) — Fidelity National Information Services Inc. said Wednesday it will acquire Metavante Technologies Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at about $2.94 billion.

Based on Fidelity National's share price, the deal values Metavante stock at a 23 percent premium over its Tuesday closing price of $19.96. Fidelity National shares closed Tuesday at $18.20.

Metavante shareholders will receive 1.35 shares of Fidelity National stock for each share of Metavante they own. Fidelity National will issue about 162 million shares as part of the acquisition.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National, which is unrelated to Boston-based Fidelity Investments, provides transaction processing, card issuer and outsourcing services for more than 14,000 financial institutions. Milwaukee-based Metavante provides banking and payments technologies for about 8,000 financial firms. Metavante was a unit of Marshall & Ilsley Corp. until 2007 when it was spun off as a separate public company.

The two companies combined to generate $5.2 billion in revenue in 2008. Fidelity National said it expects to achieve cost synergies of about $260 million after the acquisition is completed. The deal, which is expected to close during the third quarter, should boost Fidelity National's earnings in 2010.

The new executive team will integrate employees from both companies. Lee Kennedy, Fidelity National's current president and chief executive, will become executive vice chairman with the responsibility of overseeing the integration of Metavante.

Metavante's current chairman and CEO, Frank Martire, will be named president and CEO of Fidelity National. Gary Norcross will continue to serve as chief operating officer after the deal closes, while Michael Hayford will become chief financial officer. Hayford is currently the president and COO at Metavante.

The combined board will be made up of six Fidelity National directors and three Metavante directors.

Along with the acquisition, Fidelity National said it will receive equity investments from other firms, including affiliates of private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and title and specialty insurance firm Fidelity National Financial Inc. Fidelity National Information Services will issue about 16 million shares for those new investments.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Our Anniversary Trip!

Katie and I have been married for more than a year now! Does that mean we're not newlyweds anymore? I hope so but, according to Nick and Jessica we'd be newlyweds until 2010! BTW, you can purchase their entire marriage on DVD here and here.

For our anniversary trip, we went to San Antonio and Gruene / New Braunfels. We stayed at a Hyatt Place on the Riverwalk for two nights and loved it. The only downside was that the weather was in the low 40s.



Here we are on the riverwalk (in our cold weather gear)


And here we are at the Alamo!


While we were in San Antonio, we bought some Texas paraphernalia for our cars and home


In San Antonio we ate at some great restaurants: "The Original" (Mexican) and "Rainforest Cafe". At the latter, I ordered paella. Below is a photo of a sea creature I enjoyed eating.


After our two nights in San Antonio we went to Gruene, TX and stayed at the Gruene Homestead Inn in their room called The Silo. It was a fun one-time stay (annoyance: the bathroom was downstairs, the bed was upstairs). Below is a picture of the outside of the Silo.


The trip was a great opportunity for us to relax after the Fall school semester and to reflect upon our year of marriage. I would like to extend thanks to everyone who has helped us and supported us before and during our marriage.

Here's to our 50th

Update on Katie

Apparently, Katie does not have a "bug".

On Sunday, her major symptom was nausea; the back pain she had did not strike her as abnormal. However, on Monday, her back pain increased severely as her nausea went down. Then Katie realized the "back" pain she was having was actually coming from her kidneys.

Katie went to a doctor at school yesterday and he confirmed her suspicions, that she has a kidney infection. Katie is now on antibiotics and is resting. Hopefully she will be able to return to school tomorrow. (she is still feeling awful)

Katie would appreciate your prayers.

Sick Days

From Friday afternoon until sometime Saturday I was ill / not feeling well. I think I ate some bad pizza. Whatever the cause, I had stomach problems. Katie did a great job of taking care of me.

Then, this (Sunday) morning at 3 AM, Katie fell ill. We think she caught a bug from a sick student on Friday (we really think my problem was the pizza). Well, Katie's still sick and I'm trying to take care of her. Of course, she is much better at tending the sick than I am... oh well.

So, we've had a very sick weekend.

Thank God Katie hasn't been sick on a school day, yet.

Please pray for us.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Some time ago, I posted a trailer for Ben Stein's documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. This documentary discusses the censorship in the scientific community that has been placed on Intelligent Design.

I finally saw the documentary tonight (thanks to redbox) because it recently became available for rental. This documentary does not attempt to argue what ID is, or that it is superior to Darwinism; rather, it shows how academia has systematically repressed Darwin's dissenters.

Expelled begins by showing many well-credentialed professors and scientists who have been fired and blacklisted because of their support (or even acknowledgment!) of ID as a scientific theory. The documentary has much more to offer than merely listing names, but I will let you discover its qualities on your own.

Now, go. Spend $1.08 to rent the DVD and give an hour and a half of your time to watch this intriguing documentary.

Fallin is in limbo

Unlike Senator Jim Inhofe, Representative Mary Fallin (R-OK) decided to support the financial bailout.

The only other ballot option for Oklahoma's 5th district is Steve Perry. While I do like Perry's platform on Indian Gambling Reform, there are (at least) three problems I have with him:

1. Perry is pro-abortion:

   Our society should never seek to interfere between a woman and her doctor when the issue is carrying a child to term. We should never worry more about spiritual babies than real ones or the women who must make these fateful decisions.

2. Perry probably would have voted for the bailout package.
3. Perry would vote for more federal spending than Fallin would.

Perry's reference to the unborn as merely "spiritual babies" is just insulting. His language in the above quote also shows that he supports late-term abortions - abortions on viable babies.

Given my choices, voting for Perry is clearly not an option. I would argue that withholding my vote is as reckless as voting for Perry. Therefore, I will vote for Fallin; albeit, unhappily.