Fidelity To Buy Aurum Technology

Fidelity National Financial Inc., the nation's largest title-insurance company and a supplier of banking software, on Monday signed an agreement to acquire Aurum Technology Inc. from an investment group led by Willis Stein & Partners, a private equity firm. Aurum provides core banking technology including transaction processing, check imaging, electronic-funds processing, and branch automation. It has 1,100 customers, chiefly community banks and credit unions; it had $193 million in revenue in 2003. Fidelity National had more than $7.7 billion in revenue last year.

Under the terms of the agreement, Fidelity National will pay $305 million to acquire Aurum, approximately $175 million in cash and $130 million in stock. Fidelity National won't assume any bank debt or transaction-related expenses. The deal transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected late in the first quarter.

The deal follows Fidelity National's recent acquisition of Sanchez Computer Associates, whose flagship product, Profile, is a Linux-based system that's been widely deployed by international institutions.

Fidelity's biggest move into banking software was its acquisition last year of the business-services division of Alltel Information Services; the Alltel platform processes half of all U.S. residential mortgages. Fidelity's latest acquisitions strengthen its hand against rival banking system vendors such as Fiserv, Metavante, and Jack Henry & Associates.