June 22, 2009 (9:40a) - HSR Second Request Issued

The companies have announced the receipt of a second request from the Department of Justice under HSR. A joint company press release states the following:

    "FIS and Metavante are in the process of gathering information responsive to the Second Request, and are working cooperatively with the DOJ as it reviews the merger."

Additionally, the companies are now projecting a close in the fourth quarter of this year as a result of the second request.

This second request is somewhat perplexing given the DOJ's history of merger reviews in the financial services industry. However, as has been discussed in several deals over the last few months, the current DOJ leadership is clearly determined to set a higher standard of antitrust scrutiny in merger reviews. This particular deal looks to be an early example of the DOJ's direction.

However as there does not appear to any actual antitrust issues involved here, it is currently the perception of this publication that this is solely an "educational"-type second request for an set of products/services within what is obviously a volatile industry. If this is indeed the case, an extremely long second request review should be avoided if the companies can gather and submit adequate market data in an efficient manner.

Assuming this is an education second request and that the companies are able to comply relatively quickly, DOJ clearance is currently expected in a before the end of September of this year.