Bottomline buys Israeli anti-fraud company

$66 million deal expands Portsmouth firm’s service offerings

Bottomline Technologies Inc. has acquired Intellinx Ltd., an Israel-based anti-fraud technology company, for roughly $85 million in cash and stock, the company announced Tuesday.

The Portsmouth-based provider of cloud-based payment, invoice and banking information technology services said the purchase would add $10 million in earnings this calendar year.

More importantly, it would give Bottomline – whose earnings have been negative over the past few years and stock price has been sagging – a profitable foothold into the $17 billion anti-fraud industry, which is expected to triple in size over the next four years.

Unlike Bottomline, the privately held Intellinx does not release regularly detailed financials. In its last financial update, released in March 2013, it said that in 2012 it grew by 25 percent, the eighth consecutive year of revenue growth and the fourth of profitability.

Intellinx serves about 200 companies worldwide and offers a unified platform to prevent cyber fraud as well as risk management services that capture application data directly from the network, providing a detailed forensic audit trail.

It can record and analyze each keystroke and screen view, not only reducing the risk of fraud, but decrease the cost of regulatory compliance under anti-money laundering laws and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

“We are extremely excited to combine with Intellinx” said Rob Eberle, President and CEO of Bottomline Technologies. “Our customers have been asking us for solutions to help them combat cyber fraud, and the Intellinx solution is unmatched in the market.”

Bottomline will spend $66.7 million in cash (with $6.8 million held back in escrow) and 774,000 common shares for the acquisition. The stock will be handed out to key executives of Intellinx to stay with Bottomline.