ISO Continues Acquisition Strategy, Buys Sysdome
MBA (3/21/2005) Sorohan, Mike
ISO, Jersey City, N.J., made its second major acquisition of the year, announcing this morning that it will acquire Sysdome, a Calabasas, Calif.-based provider of fraud prevention and decision-support services.
The transaction, which requires shareholder approval, is expected to close within 30 days. Terms were not disclosed.
In January, ISO acquired AppIntelligence, a Weldon Spring, Mo.-based provider of Web-based analytic tools that also identify and detect fraud in the residential mortgage industry. The two entities will be combined into a new division called ISO Mortgage Analytics .
"The strategic fit could not be better," said Chris Guidette, ISO's assistant vice president for corporate communications. "We already have one of the largest databases in fraud detection in the insurance industry-ISO ClaimSearch. We also have the tools that are used to really make this data useful."
"This will be a comfortable situation for customers of both companies more because there will be no diminution in the support for the products of either company," said Scott Stephenson, ISO's executive vice president. "Customers who have already implemented a solution from either company will find their investments are protected and prospective customers will continue to have the same or enhanced choices available to them."
Guidette said ISO's acquisition strategy is guided by finding products that "uniquely suit" the company. "We are always looking to grow, by acquisition and by developing new products and services and to provide services to new industries and to enhance existing products and services," he said.
ISO's history dates back to the Civil War. Since 1971, the company, which has more than 2,700 employees, has provided analytic services (database and data aggregation), primarily to the casualty and insurance businesses. In recent years, ISO has expanded its services to banking and financial services, as well as flood protection. Sysdome was founded in 1998 and has more than 500 mortgage lenders as clients.