Intuit to Buy Processor ECHO for $131 Million

Intuit Inc. will pay $131 million in stock to buy payment processor Electronic Clearing House Inc., known as ECHO, the two announced this morning. The deal is worth about $17 per share of ECHO stock and the announcement caused investors to bid its stock up 110 percent in midday trading to $16.62 per share.

Camarillo, Calif.-based ECHO is a processor of electronic checks and debit and credit cards. It also offers check verification, collection and guarantee services, along with automated clearing house (ACH) capabilities.

An Intuit executive said in a statement that ECHO will give it greater access to small business market, and allow it to offer ACH services.

The two expect the deal to close in the first quarter of 2008. Plans call for ECHO would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intuit.

Intuit announced plans to buy ECHO in December 2006, but the two called off the deal last March. Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit is a maker of financial management software including Quicken, QuickBooks and TurboTax.