ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Certegy, the card processor for roughly 4,000 credit unions has announced that it has signed a merger agreement with Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), a majority owned subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial Inc. "We are very excited to become part of the FNF family," said Lee A. Kennedy, Certegy CEO. "This combination creates one of the largest financial institution technology processing and services companies in the world. It provides Certegy with the opportunity to significantly increase the depth and breadth of products and services that we offer to the domestic community bank and credit union markets, as well as our international customers. "It also provides a potential entry point with larger financial institutions through FIS' large bank processing relationships. We expect this combination to provide significant value for our existing Certegy shareholders, including both the $3.75 per share special cash dividend and the expected accretion to trailing twelve months cash earnings per share of 16%," he concluded. FIS has moved strongly into the credit union data processing industry in recent years, including purchasing Aurum Technology in February 2004. Details to follow in next issue. -

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