A recent American Banker article suggests that by going private (selling itself to KKR for $29 Billion, $34 a share) First Data will be able to make long over due investments in consolidating its processing systems without raising the ire of shareholders. The company expects to spend $100 million over 2.5 years to consolidate 13 processing systems to four and merge 12 data centers to 3. With that complex a transformation in process, you'd want to minimize the risk of shareholder impatience, too.
Will Buyout Recharge First Data's Strategy?
American Banker
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
By David Breitkopf
