Jacksonville, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services Inc., the payment processor that agreed to buy EFunds Corp. for about $1.8 billion last month, said an employee stole 2.3 million consumer records and sold them for a profit to a data broker.
Certegy Check Services Inc., a Fidelity unit that helps businesses clear checks, sued William Sullivan in a Florida state court to retrieve the information and end its use. The personal, bank account and credit-card data were resold to direct marketers who pitch products to consumers by mail and telephone, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company said in a statement Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for Fidelity, Michelle Kersch, said it was unclear if any Colorado residents were among those affected by the breach.
Additional business news briefs:
DENVER
DIA on-time arrivals down from last year
Denver International Airport’s on-time arrival performance ranking fell to No. 17 in May from No. 5 a year ago, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. DIA’s on-time departure performance fell to No. 22 in the month, from No. 11 a year earlier.
DENVER
Ex-CEO’s sentence to be reviewed
A federal appeals court in Denver plans to hear arguments the first week of October on whether to uphold a 24-month prison sentence for a former Westar Energy Inc. executive convicted of bank fraud.
It will be the third time the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considers a sentence in the case against David Wittig, former chief executive officer of the Topeka, Kan.-based utility. The three-judge panel in Denver has overturned previous prison sentences of 51 and 60 months as too harsh.
CHICAGO
Bidders to increase offers for trade board
Intercontinental Exchange Inc., one of two bidders vying for the Chicago Board of Trade, said it is prepared to improve its $10.9 billion offer for the second-largest U.S. futures exchange.
Intercontinental has raised its bid twice since March in an attempt to sway shareholders to reject a $9.8 billion offer from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Atlanta-based Intercontinental has said it could pay Board of Trade members as much as $800,000 each to settle a disputed ownership privilege, or so-called exercise right, with the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
PITTSBURGH
Alcan rejects offer of more talks from rival
Canadian aluminum maker Alcan Inc. has denied a request by rival Alcoa Inc. for further talks on Alcoa’s hostile $27.5 billion takeover bid.
Alcan’s board of directors unanimously rejected the unsolicited offer as inadequate in May, urging its shareholders to follow suit.
But Alcoa appealed to Alcan last month, asking for access to business documents reportedly provided to third parties.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Exxon, others seek return of oil leases
Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and other oil companies asked a judge in Alaska to overturn a government agency’s decision to revoke leases on an oil and gas field on the state’s North Slope.
The companies have held the leases since the 1970s at Point Thompson, an undeveloped field about 50 miles east of Prudhoe Bay, estimated to hold 300 million barrels of oil and 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources revoked the leases in November after deciding the companies had taken too long to develop the field.
WICHITA
High gas prices in store after refinery floods
Midwestern states that depend on fuel supplies from the flooded refinery in Coffeyville, Kan., will see some of the highest prices in the nation for gasoline and diesel this summer, industry experts said.
Normally at this time of year, Kansas wholesale prices trade at a nickel above the Gulf Coast, but on Tuesday they were trading 25 to 30 cents above Gulf prices, said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.
Although the Coffeyville refinery contributes less than 1 percent of the nation’s gasoline production, it represents a healthy chunk of Great Plains production, Kloza said.
HOUSTON
ConocoPhillips says production likely fell
ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company, said Tuesday its global production likely fell in the second quarter from the first three months of 2007, but it benefited from higher crude-oil and natural-gas prices for the period.
ConocoPhillips said production is expected to be lower because of scheduled maintenance in the North Sea, its exit from Dubai and other factors. It did not provide figures or comparisons to the year-ago quarter.
NEW YORK
Firms finish buyout of U.S. Foodservice
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Clayton Dubilier & Rice Inc. completed their $7.1 billion purchase of U.S. Foodservice, a unit of Royal Ahold NV, amid a number of delays of leveraged-buyout debt sales.
U.S. Foodservice last week canceled a plan to sell $1.55 billion of bonds to finance its LBO, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The private-equity firms are now relying on bridge financing to complete the deal, according to Standard & Poor’s Leveraged Commentary and Data unit.
