Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc. today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CheckFree Corp., a Norcross, Ga., provider of financial e-commerce services and products.
The all-cash transaction is valued at approximately $4.4 billion. Under terms of the agreement, CheckFree shareholders will receive $48 in cash for each share of CheckFree common stock.
The corporate acquisition is Fiserv's largest to date.
CheckFree, a leader in online banking, electronic payments, and infrastructure and services, and Fiserv, a leader in information management services to the financial and insurance industries, have complementary technology, services and business models, the companies said.
Fiserv anticipates the combined organization will deliver a wider range of product and service offerings for customers, as well as provide opportunities for improved growth and enhanced efficiency, including the ability to bring new solutions to market faster.
CheckFree's Electronic Commerce business serves 21 of the top 25 financial institutions in the United States and processes more than 1 billion transactions per year. 
"CheckFree's industry-leading payment and Internet banking capabilities will significantly accelerate our strategic transformation, extending our service platform to the largest financial institutions," said Jeffery Yabuki, president and chief executive officer of Fiserv. "This combination allows us to deliver the best available solutions to all of our clients to enhance growth today, and into the future. An important objective of the transaction is to tightly integrate electronic bill payment and settlement capabilities with our core account processing and risk management solutions to create a unique value proposition unrivaled in the marketplace today."
"By joining our complementary technology and capabilities with Fiserv and its unparalleled footprint, this new combined entity will broaden Fiserv's offerings to customers worldwide," said Pete Kight, CheckFree chairman and CEO. "In particular, it will significantly accelerate the delivery of next-generation services to financial institutions and their customers. CheckFree's broad range of offerings will also enable Fiserv to round out its ability to deliver solutions that address the challenges of an evolving U.S. payments landscape and help facilitate the growth of the managed accounts industry."
Kight will be employed by Fiserv and appointed to its board of directors.
With the transaction, Fiserv expects to realize more than $100 million in annualized cost savings and more than $125 million in annualized revenue synergies.

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. is restructuring its leadership team with the creation of a new senior position and three executive promotions.
Gloster Current has been named to the newly created role of vice president of corporate affairs and assistant to the chief executive officer. In his new role, reporting directly to Ed Zore, president and chief executive pfficer, Current will oversee the Northwestern Mutual Foundation and will assume responsibility for Board of Trustee and Policyowner Examining Committee relations and recruitment.
Current has held numerous executive positions with the company, most recently as vice president of policyowner services.
"The company is very fortunate to have Gloster moving into this new position," Zore said. "The depth of talent in Northwestern Mutual's leadership ranks is outstanding, and we are excited to draw on our dedicated senior management team to ensure continued success in all of our business areas."
The Milwaukee company also announced the following promotions:
Kathy Oman has been named an executive officer and will succeed Current as vice president of policyowner services. In her new role, Oman will lead the department that serves Northwestern Mutual's 3 million life insurance policy owners and the nearly 5 million policies administered by the Fortune 100 company.
David Clark has been promoted from vice president to senior vice president of the real estate department. He will continue to manage the company's investment in mortgage loans and real estate.
Jeffrey Lueken has been promoted from vice president to senior vice president of the securities department and will continue to oversee Northwestern Mutual's investments in private debt, private equity and public convertible holdings.

SABMiller plc, the London-based parent company of Milwaukee's Miller Brewing Co., announced today that and Norman Adami, president and chief executive officer of SABMiller Americas, and Andre Parker, managing director of SABMiller Africa and Asia, will both be retiring from the company in the coming months.
The company said Adami had expressed a desire to retire and return to South Africa for some time, due to "compelling family circumstances."
With the transition of the Miller management team fully completed and the integration of the group's Latin American businesses also well-advanced, Adami will retire from full service on Nov. 30.
Adami has been in the brewing business for 25 years and has been a member of the SABMiller executive committee for 13 years. He was Miller Brewing Co.'s president and CEO from 2003 to 2006. In addition, Adami oversaw the successful integration of Grupo Empresarial Bavaria into the SABMiller group in the past year.
Adami will not be replaced.
Tom Long, president and CEO of Miller Brewing Co., and Barry Smith, president of SABMiller Latin America, will report directly to Graham Mackay, SABMiller chief executive.
Mackay said, "Norman has made an enduring contribution to the SABMiller Group, and we will greatly miss his wisdom, passion and commitment. One of Norman's legacies is the strong management team that he has built up in the Americas. I respect Norman's decision to move back to South Africa to support his family, and we wish them all success and happiness in this new phase of their lives."
Parker will retire at the end of September after 32 years of service. Under Parker's leadership, Miller's sales volumes in Africa and Asia grew four-fold over the past eight years.
In recognition of the current scale and future growth potential of the group's Africa and Asia interests, region will be split into two management units in October.
Ari Mervis has been appointed managing director of SABMiller Asia, and Mark Bowman will take up the role of managing director of SABMiller Africa.

Although the slumping Milwaukee Brewers fell from first place in the National League Central Division Wednesday night, they're still getting some national limelight.
Brewers' slugger Prince Fielder is on the cover of the new edition of ESPN The Magazine.
In a press release about the new issue, ESPN says, "Prince Fielder - the Brewers' 23-year-old star and MVP contender is making a name for himself - despite dirty refs, dogfighting and doping."
Reporter Jeff Bradley wrote, "Though he's only 23, Prince Fielder's brought a sizzling bat, a sunny smile and a lifetime of experience to the NL Central race. No wonder Milwaukee's got his back."
The magazine quotes Brewers veteran outfielder Geoff Jenkins as saying, "This may be just his second season, but it's like he's got over 20 years of experience. He's come in here and produced, no doubt. But he's done more than that. He's made this his team."

Vector Surgical, the Oconomowoc medical device company that won the 2007 Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest, has shipped products for its first three sales orders.
The company said the three orders came from large hospitals in Texas, Mississippi and Wisconsin. Surgeons who are specialists in breast cancer surgery asked their hospitals to buy two of Vector Surgical's tissue orientation products, MarginMarker and CorrectClips, which are used to more accurately mark cancerous tissue that has been removed from the patient's body for radiological and pathological analysis.
Vector Surgical's sales also included GammaBlocker, a lead shield used in cancer surgery to quickly and accurately locate lymph nodes so they can be tested for cancer. 
Also in recent weeks, Vector Surgical shipped 250 sterile samples of MarginMarker to other U.S. surgeons for trial use.
"There is genuine interest from surgical leaders in quickly adopting these products, because they so simply and clearly contribute to better patient care," said Janet Phillips, CEO of Vector Surgical, which was founded in 2005.
Vector Surgical emerged from nearly 300 entries to win the 2007 Business Plan Contest. Winners in the 2007 contest shared in $200,000 in cash and in-kind prizes.
For more information about the contest, visit www.govsbizplancontest.com or the Wisconsin Technology Council at www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com. Entries for the 2008 contest will be accepted beginning in December.

Stronger overall job gains marked local economic activity in June, according to the latest monthly report by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC).
Twelve of MMAC's 23 metro area indicators pointed upward in June, matching the revised 12 positives posted in May.
"The employment situation in the metro area improved in June. Stronger year-over-year gains pushed non-farm job totals to their highest level in six and one-half years," said Bret Mayborne, economic research director for the MMAC. "June's improvements were largely among employment based indicators. The hope is that in future months a broader set of local economic indicators can begin to register consistent gains."
Non-farm employment averaged 869,000 in June, the highest job total registered since December, 2000.
June's job gains were broad-based, with seven of 10 major industry sectors posting year-over-year job growth. The education & health services sector (up 3.7 percent) posted the largest percentage increase. Conversely, a 3.3-percent job decline in the construction, mining & natural resources sector was the largest decrease registered.

Other local economic indicators included:

• A record 715,422 passengers used Mitchell International Airport in June, surpassing the previous monthly high of 709,305 recorded in March 2005.
• The number of unemployed rose 7.4 percent, the third consecutive year-over-year increase.
• New unemployment compensation claims rose 2.4 percent.
• Existing home sales in the metro area fell 18 percent to 1,584, its sharpest decline against year-ago levels in nine months.
• Mortgages recorded in Milwaukee County dropped 16 percent to 5,322, its 11th decline in the past 12 months.
• The value of signed construction contracts, as reported by F.W. Dodge for May, was $146.6 million, down 31.1 percent from May 2006.

AT&T Inc. is taking on the cable company in Sheboygan. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across Wisconsin at www.biztimes.com.

The debate continues. The Healthy Wisconsin reform plan is bad medicine for the state, according to Bill Smith, author of today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

The BizTimes Stock Index dipped another .50 points to close at 184.86 Wednesday, and local stocks searched for their first positive session of the week in early morning trading today. The largest local advancers this morning were Johnson Controls Inc. (up $1.18 to $113.79) and Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (up $1.02 to $42.99). The largest local decliners this morning were Johnson Outdoors Inc. (down 99 cents to $21.65) and Manpower Inc. (down 75 cents to $76.69). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.