Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Intuit to Acquire Electronic Clearing House, Again

Mountain View-based Intuit and Camarillo-based Electronic Clearing House announced Wednesday afternoon that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement for Intuit to acquire Electronic Clearing House. The deal is worth approximately $131M, and is worth $17.00 in cash for each share of ECHO common stock. Electronic Clearing House provides electronic payment processing, including credit card and check processing and ACH services. The deal is the second for the two firms, after an aborted merger in March. According to the firms, the new deal came about because ECHO has "refocused its business and addressed governmental concerns." In addition, the firms said that the conditions are more favorable for a successful acquisition. The purchase price for Electronic Clearing House is slighly less than the $142M in cash Intuit originally offered in December of 2006.

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