Some of Metavante Technologies Inc.’s 2,700 employees in the Milwaukee area are likely to lose their jobs as a result of the pending merger of the Brown Deer-based company with Fidelity National Information Services Inc.
Executives at Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National said they expect the merger to result in $260 million in cost cuts. The management of both companies will decide over the next two months where to cut jobs, said Don Layden, senior executive vice president of Metavante.
“There will be some people whose jobs will be redundant and will end up leaving the company,” Layden said in an interview Wednesday morning. “We’re doing everything we can to minimize that.”
Metavante has already taken steps to slow hiring and leave positions open in recent months as the company has held discussions with Fidelity National about a possible merger, Layden said. Employment has remained flat companywide at about 5,900.
Metavante’s Milwaukee-area locations include the Brown Deer headquarters and offices in the Park Place office park on Milwaukee’s far northwest side. The company also has offices in Menomonee Falls and in downtown Milwaukee at Schlitz Park. Metavante also runs a data center in Oak Creek.
The company, formerly known as M&I Data Services, was spun off by Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (NYSE: MI) of Milwaukee in November 2007.
Metavante informed employees and customers of the pending merger via email Wednesday morning when the companies released the news, Layden said. He said he visited with employees Wednesday morning and they evinced a combination of concern and excitement.
“There is, as you’d expect, some uneasiness, but our employees are tremendously resilient,” Layden said.
Employees are excited about the new combination with Fidelity National giving the Metavante staff better products with which to compete in the financial services industry, he said.
Employees also are upbeat because many of them are shareholders, and Fidelity National’s purchase price is a premium to the recent closing prices for Metavante stock, Layden said.
Metavante executives weren’t looking to sell the company but were open to discussing the possibility when Fidelity National made the initial contact about nine months ago, Layden said.
“They may have reached out to us, but it was a mutual discussion,” he said.
The Brown Deer headquarters will lose a few top executives, including CEO Frank Martire and president Michael Hayford, who will move to Jacksonville and take top positions with Fidelity National. The Brown Deer offices will remain open and play an important role in the combined company, Layden said.
Fidelity National has about 500 employees already in the metro area at 16363 W. Ryerson Road in New Berlin, Layden said. Fidelity National acquired eFunds Corp. in a September 2007 transaction that included eFunds Milwaukee-area offices.
Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV) was an unsuccessful bidder for eFunds, according to Bloomberg.
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